Rosberg quickest in Bahrain practice two
Rosberg was half a second quicker than Schumacher around the Bahrain circuit
Mercedes power remained on top of the times sheets in the second practice session at Bahrain but this time it was the works Mercedes team that headed the times.
Nico Rosberg was fastest of all followed by three more Mercedes-powered runners: Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button.
Adrian Sutil, fastest in the first practice session this morning, was 12th for Force India.
Several drivers tried running the super-soft tyres in this afternoon’s session and many discovered problems with rear tyre wear.
The dustry track also caught several drivers out, particularly at the final corner. The new section also proved challenging – Jaime Alguersuari spun his Toro Rosso, luckily stopping just before the barriers.
As the session ended Bruno Senna skidded to a halt in his HRT car. The right-rear wheel appeared to shed a nut as he braked for the first corner. He at least managed to complete 17 laps and set a best time of 2’06.968.
| Position | Car number | Driver | Car | Best lap | Laps | |
| 1 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’55.409 | 23 | |
| 2 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’55.854 | 0.445 | 22 |
| 3 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’55.903 | 0.494 | 23 |
| 4 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’56.076 | 0.667 | 28 |
| 5 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’56.459 | 1.05 | 18 |
| 6 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1’56.501 | 1.092 | 26 |
| 7 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’56.555 | 1.146 | 30 |
| 8 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’56.750 | 1.341 | 26 |
| 9 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’57.140 | 1.731 | 25 |
| 10 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’57.255 | 1.846 | 24 |
| 11 | 23 | Kamui Kobyashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’57.352 | 1.943 | 27 |
| 12 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’57.361 | 1.952 | 29 |
| 13 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’57.452 | 2.043 | 21 |
| 14 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’57.833 | 2.424 | 29 |
| 15 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1’58.155 | 2.746 | 29 |
| 16 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’59.799 | 4.39 | 31 |
| 17 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 2’00.444 | 5.035 | 12 |
| 18 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 2’00.873 | 5.464 | 23 |
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 2’00.990 | 5.581 | 14 |
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 2’02.037 | 6.628 | 3 |
| 21 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 2’02.188 | 6.779 | 21 |
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 2’06.968 | 11.559 | 17 |
| 23 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1 | ||
| 24 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 0 |
Predict the pole sitter and top five finishers in the Bahrain Grand Prix for your chance to win F1 tickets, DVDs, books and more. Entries close before the start of free practice three so enter now!
Brakefluid said on 12th March 2010, 17:30
HRT? Are the mechanics a bunch of stroppy middle-aged women?
Claudio said on 12th March 2010, 18:06
as usual, Nico is the first on Friday
F1silverarrows said on 12th March 2010, 19:49
well i’m happy that rosberg is settled in the Mercedes quickly and is liking the car, setting the fastest time in practice 2 and even outperforming Michael.
And this is meant to be a Mercedes which hasn’t been 100% sorted yet, and with the new rear wing advantage which Mclaren will lose quickly, will improve the Mercedes even more.
I want rosberg to do well and maybe win the WDC because I got £20 running on him with the odds 25/1, good start atm just wish Hulkenberg would be a dark horse and be in there for 100/1 chance.
HG said on 12th March 2010, 21:14
you might be able to find good odds for hulk to take WDC in 2-3 years time, if he does well he might be the prefered choice for merc over vettel, will certainly be interresting to keep an eye over him for the season
Bellof said on 12th March 2010, 23:50
always thought the hulk would be top drawer since AlGP days just looked very easy for such a young driver, what kind of odds can you get for a title within a few years?? got to be worth a punt
fordsrule (@fordsrule) said on 13th March 2010, 0:49
Depends who the driver is I guess, there was some guy in England who put a bet on Hamilton to win the title before he was 25 I think a couple of years before he even got to f1. And I think he got a fairly good payout.
James_mc said on 13th March 2010, 1:13
I remember in the early 00′s, someone put a big stack of cash on Jenson Button to be Britain’s next F1 WDC… oops!
marc said on 14th March 2010, 9:29
cant beleve its the first race today!!!!!!!!!