Nico Rosberg Tops Second Practice in Bahrain

The second practice session on Friday lacked the action from the opening outing on the Sakhir International Circuit this morning, as most of the competitors focused on long stints to simulate race conditions. Under the circumstances, it was Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg who topped the timing reports in the afternoon, after setting an early pace only 20 minutes into the P2.

Following the first half an hour, Rosberg's time was not to be challenged by anyone, as it was the same German driver who improved on his lap time by a few tenths later on. He eventually ended the day with the best time of 1:55.409, while his teammate Michael Schumacher had to settle for 3rd place, almost half of second behind.

Between the two Mercedes drivers, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished the P2 in 2nd and 4th respectively, within 2 tenths of a second from each other.

Although finishing the P2 in 5th place, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel had a hard day at the wheel of his RB6, as he made no less than 2 trips off the track during the 90 minutes of action in the afternoon. Nevertheless, he wasn't the unluckiest of the Red Bull drivers, as his teammate Mark Webber returned to his team's garage after only 5 laps with a driveshaft problem. He eventually ended the afternoon with only 12 laps of running.

Red Bull's sister team Toro Rosso also experienced some problems on Friday, as Sebastien Buemi did not drive for a single lap due to an issue with his car's rear part.

The Top 10 was completed by Nico Hulkenberg, Felipe Massa, Vitaly Petrov, Fernando Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa.

As for newly-entrants HRT F1, the Spanish team sent only Bruno Senna to the track in the afternoon, as his teammate Karun Chandhok's car was not ready for action for the entire Friday. The Brazilian driver showed some incredible lack of pace though, as his car did its best lap in over 11 and a half seconds as compared to Rosberg.

After 17 laps spent on the Sakhir track, Senna nearly hit the barrier at the exit from the first corner, as one of his car's wheelnuts broke down and led to the car sliding off the track.

01. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP)                              1:55.409
02. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)                  1:55.854
03. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP)                  1:55.903
04. Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes)                    1:56.076
05. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)                     1:56.459
06. Nico Hulkenberg (Williams-Cosworth)                  1:56.501
07. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)                                           1:56.555
08. Vitaly Petrov (Renault)                                          1:56.750
09. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)                                     1:57.140
10. Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber-Ferrari)                        1:57.255
11. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari)                        1:57.352
12. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)                      1:57.361
13. Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth)                1:57.452
14. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India-Mercedes)               1:57.833
15. Robert Kubica (Renault)                                         1:58.155
16. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)                 1:59.799
17. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)                            2:00.444
18. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Cosworth)                       2:00.873
19. Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Cosworth)                                  2:00.990
20. Timo Glock (Virgin-Cosworth)                                 2:02.037
21. Lucas di Grassi (Virgin-Cosworth)                          2:02.188
22. Bruno Senna (HRT-Cosworth)                                2:06.968
23. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)