Bahrain, FP2: Rosberg beats Hamilton in practice

After a low-key start to the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend with 15th and 16th place in the morning session, Mercedes reasserted their authority in the second free practice session, with Nico Rosberg taking top spot in the afternoon ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes duo’s closest challenger was Kimi Raikkonen, the Ferrari driver finishing four tenths of a second behind Hamilton.

The baking heat of the morning session, held in bright sunshine, led to unrepresentative conditions and the Mercerdes pairing spent the opening 90 minutes pursuing long runs that left them down the order, the duo were straight into the fray in the afternoon.

Hamilton held away in the early stages of the session, run on medium tyres, the champion lapping four tenths faster than Rosberg and a tenth quicker than Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari.

However, when the performance runs took place, on the soft tyre, Rosberg vaulted to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:34.647, just a tenth quicker than the champion.

Behind them Kimi Raikkonen took third spot with a lap of 1:35.174, a tenth clear of Vettel.

The German was later involved in a minor collision with Force India’s Sergio Perez. Vettel reported a braking issue and was coasting towards home when Perez, jostling for track position with a Sauber appeared to cut across Vettel with the result that the Ferrari shipped front wing damage. Following an investigation after the session the race stewards ruled that no further action was warranted.

Fifth place in the session went to Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, one of the last drivers to attempt a performance run. His best time was six-tenths off the pace. Team-mate Felipe Massa finished in ninth place.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth ahead, while Pastor Maldonado gave Lotus hope of a good weekend with the day’s seventh fastest time, though team-mate Romain Grosjean was down in P13.

Sauber once again look set for a solid weekend, with Felipe Nasr landing the eighth-fastest time ahead of Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and Massa. Nasr’s ream-mate Marcus Ericsson was 11th fastest.

After finishing seventh in the morning session, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso again showed improvement for the team by taking 12th place, four hundredths of a second behind Ericsson.

In the morning session team Alonso’s -mate Jenson Button registered just two laps, his car stopping with an electrical issues and there was more frustration for the McLaren driver in the afternoon as he was ordered to stop his car after completing just three laps. He managed to rejoin later in the session but finished in 19th place.