Massa leads Williams 1-2 in Austrian GP qualifying

Take that Ferrari. Kicked out by the Ferrari team after last year, Felipe Massa buries both Ferraris in Zeltweg

Using the superior Mercedes power unit coupled to a Williams chassis that loves fast sweeping corners enabled Felipe Massa and teammate Valtteri Bottas to lock out the front row for the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring.

Mercedes powered cars will occupy 8 of the top 12 spots on the grid.

Nico Rosberg will start 3rd for Mercedes while his teammate Lewis Hamilton could only manage 10th if spinning the superior Mercedes in a failed attempt to beat his teammate and championship point leader Rosberg.

Fernando Alonso will start 4th and Daniel Riccardo 5th.

The pressure is mounting on title favorite Lewis Hamilton, with even the Briton admitting his 2014 challenge could be slipping away.

After a car failure in Montreal put him 22 points behind Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, Briton Hamilton insisted he cannot afford many more strikes against him.

Going into the Austria weekend, the 2008 world champion said: "Another situation like that (Montreal) and that gap might start to get too big."

Indeed, the mountain became even steeper after qualifying, where Hamilton secured just a ninth place spot for Sunday's race.

Bottas and Massa

Rosberg, in contrast, is third, behind the shock Williams one-two led by Felipe Massa.

In the silver camp, however, it is the German with the psychological edge at present.

And, sparking comparisons with Hamilton's Monaco anger after a controversial qualifying mistake, in Austria it was Rosberg's turn to furrow his brow.

"I could not put the perfect lap together because of Lewis spinning," he said.

"I had to lift off, so that definitely cost me today."

Unlike Rosberg in Monaco, however, Hamilton certainly did not benefit from the qualifying action in Austria.

But although some think Hamilton's sudden spin under braking looked like a technical problem, the feeling within the silver-clad garage is that the 2008 world champion simply made a mistake.

"I'll have to look at the data to see what happened," Hamilton told Sky.

"I'm ok — it's a long race tomorrow. We have the best engine so hopefully I will be able to move my way up."

Team boss Toto Wolff also suspects a driver error.

"We are just looking at the data," he told Austrian broadcaster ORF. "It looks as if the rear brakes blocked, at precisely the moment when he downshifted.

"Whether it was a driver error or a problem, I don't know exactly yet."

Results

Pos Driver Team Time Behind
1 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m08.759s +0.000s
2 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m08.846s +0.087
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m08.944s +0.185
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m09.285s +0.526
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m09.466s +0.707
6 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m09.515s +0.756
7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m09.619s +0.860
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m10.795s +2.036
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes No Time Spun Out
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes No Time No Time
11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m09.754s +0.780s
12 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m09.780s +0.806s
13 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m09.801s +0.827s
14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m09.939s +0.965s
15 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m10.073s +1.099s
16 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m10.642s +1.668s
17 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m10.825s +1.311s
18 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m11.349s +1.835s
19 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m11.412s +1.898s
20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m11.673s +2.159s
21 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m11.775s +2.261s
22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m12.673s +3.159s