Massa claims pole for Austrian GP

Felipe Massa claimed pole position in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix Saturday, finishing ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas in a remarkable one-two for Williams.

(from left) Nico Rosberg (GER/2nd/Mercedes AMG Petronas), Felipe Massa (BRA/1st/Williams Martini Racing) and Valtteri Bottas (FIN/3rd/Williams Martini Racing) after the Qualifying session for the Formula One Grand Prix of Austria at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Photo by EPA/HANS KLAUS TECHT
(from left) Nico Rosberg (GER/2nd/Mercedes AMG Petronas), Felipe Massa (BRA/1st/Williams Martini Racing) and Valtteri Bottas (FIN/3rd/Williams Martini Racing) after the Qualifying session for the Formula One Grand Prix of Austria at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Photo by EPA/HANS KLAUS TECHT

Massa set the quickest time of 1 minute 8.759 seconds around the 4.326-kilometre Red Bull Ring, finishing 0.087 seconds ahead of Bottas, who had earlier topped the timesheets in the final practice.

The success is a boost in what has been a modest season for Williams with Massa repeatedly shouting "great job" over the team radio in reaction to claiming the 16th pole position of his career, his first in six years.

World championship standings leader Nico Rosberg took third, 0.098 seconds behind Massa, but his Mercedes colleague and nearest title challenger Lewis Hamilton failed to post a time in third qualifying and will start the race in ninth.

It is the first time all season that no Mercedes will start on the front row of the grid.

Red Bull won for the first time this season through Daniel Ricciardo's maiden victory at the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago but struggled to impose themselves on their home race.

Ricciardo qualified in fifth, behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in fourth, but reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel continued to have problems as he failed to progress beyond second qualifying by finishing 13th.

However, Vettel will start Sunday's race in 12th due to Sergio Perez's five-place grid penalty from the Canadian Grand Prix.

Kevin Magnussen (McLaren), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) took places six, seven and eight, while Nico Huelkenbeg (Force India) completed the top 10 for Sunday's race.