Free 3: Nico Rosberg fastest once again in Bahrain

Nico Rosberg has ended up fastest once again in Bahrain during the final practice session for this weekends Bahrain Grand Prix, finishing just over a tenth ahead of reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel. The second Red Bull of Mark Webber came 3rd, as McLaren ended the session 4th and 6th.

French rookie Jean-Eric Vergne was the first driver out on track as the session got underway, and was quickly followed by his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. After not partaking in yesterday’s second practice session, Force India seemed eager to make up for their lost ground. Their two drivers of Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg swapped fastest laps for the first part of the session, before the Lotus’ of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean also began swapping fastest times.

With Mercedes suffering from tyre conservation issues in the first couple of races of the season, their two drivers’ of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher both locked their tyres throughout their first initial laps, with Schumacher extensively doing so into turn 1.

As the session wore on, Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap with a 01:34.225 before the drivers’ began switching their attention to qualifying simulation laps. This involved many drivers’ emerging from the pits with the softer Pirelli P-Zero tyre fitted to their car. And the first driver to set a competitive lap time on those tyres was the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo, who set a 01:34.197. This time, however, was then beaten by Michael Schumacher who set a 01:33.796 before his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, blitzed the timing screens with a 01:33.254.

When Sebastian Vettel returned to the pits, there was worried looks from the mechanics as smoke of some sort was seen escaping from the bodywork near the exhaust on the right-hand side of the car. However, after the mechanics took an extensive look at the car, the team seemed satisfied to let the reigning World Champion return to the track, with slight overheating as the issue.

As the checkered flag emerged, Nico Rosberg was once again in a commanding position atop the timing sheets, with many now predicting a second consecutive pole for the 26-year-old. Behind him the two Red Bull’s remained in 2nd and 3rd places, with McLaren either off the pace or preserving their pace back in 4th and 6th positions.

With all three practice sessions now over in Bahrain, the all-important qualifying session looms ever closer. With the heat of the Sakhir International Circuit, tyre conservation will be a top priority of the teams as they try and set the fastest times possible, without destroying their allotted Pirelli tyres.

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