Rosberg edges Hamilton in Bahrain GP practice

Nico Rosberg once again confirmed Mercedes’ pace as he topped the times in Friday practice ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

The German driver emerged as the man to beat with his 1:34.647s eclipsing Lewis Hamilton’s previous session best by 0.115s.

Both Rosberg and Hamilton used the day’s earlier 90 minute hit out to work on heavy fuel runs before showcasing their true pace in the final evening practice.

Ferrari remained best of the rest as Kimi Raikkonen edged his opposite number Sebastian Vettel to third spot, with the Maranello outfit half a second adrift of Rosberg’s leading Mercedes.

Although on top at the end of Friday, Rosberg says Ferrari’s improved speed means Mercedes cannot afford to relax this weekend .

“The afternoon session wasn’t very useful as the conditions are so hot and really quite different to what we see in the evening – which is of course when qualifying and the race will be held,” said Rosberg.

“That makes the second session very valuable and we learned a lot – for example that Ferrari are very good on the long runs.

“On qualifying laps we look quicker but on race pace they are really strong so we will have to do a lot of work tonight to find the perfect setup.”

However, there is a cloud hanging over Hamilton and Raikkonen, who were both called to the stewards following practice for failing to leave the pit lane correctly.

The latter was issued with a reprimand after officials declared the Finn’s re-entry to the track was unsafe.

Raikkonen’s team-mate Vettel was a target for the stewards with the four-time world champion and Sergio Perez investigated for a collision which brought the red flags out in the dying moments of Practice 2.

An FIA panel deemed the incident not worthy of any penalty.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo ended the day in sixth position behind the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, just 0.802s behind Rosberg.

“We’re more or less where we expect to be,” said Ricciardo.

“We’re a little bit more competitive in cooler conditions so the night session should be good.

“The tyre degradation is quite high here, it will probably be a two stop race, but we’ll see.”

Ricciardo was narrowly quicker than Pastor Maldonado in seventh with the Sauber of Felipe Nasr in eighth.

Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and Felipe Massa rounded out the top 10.

McLaren endured a mixed day with Fernando Alonso showing improved pace as he guided the MP4-30 into 12th position just 1.5s slower then Rosberg.

Meanwhile, team-mate Jenson Button encountered a difficult day having been instructed to stop the car on circuit after just three laps.

The 2009 world champion returned to the track where he set a time good enough for 19th position.

Result: Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice 2 

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:34.647s		31
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:34.762s	+0.115s	33
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:35.174s	+0.527s	30
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:35.277s	+0.630s	26
5	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Mercedes	1:35.280s	+0.633s	36
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Renault	1:35.449s	+0.802s	27
7	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus Mercedes	1:35.474s	+0.827s	34
8	Felipe Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	1:35.793s	+1.146s	27
9	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Renault	1:35.883s	+1.236s	23
10	Felipe Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:35.884s	+1.237s	35
11	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:36.148s	+1.501s	34
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:36.191s	+1.544s	22
13	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Mercedes	1:36.334s	+1.687s	31
14	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso Renault	1:36.471s	+1.824s	32
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	1:36.805s	+2.158s	30
16	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso Renault	1:36.917s	+2.270s	26
17	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:37.062s	+2.415s	33
18	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia	1:39.131s	+4.484s	21
19	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	1:39.209s	+4.562s	15
20	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia	1:40.592s	+5.945s	26

Result: Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice 1

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:37.827s		13
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:38.029s	+0.202s	12
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Mercedes	1:38.390s	+0.563s	23
4	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso Renault	1:38.447s	+0.620s	14
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Renault	1:38.455s	+0.628s	17
6	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso Renault	1:38.504s	+0.677s	22
7	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:38.598s	+0.771s	18
8	Felipe Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	1:38.628s	+0.801s	17
9	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Renault	1:38.661s	+0.834s	17
10	Felipe Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:38.790s	+0.963s	21
11	Sergio Perez	Sergio Perez	1:38.793s	+0.966s	15
12	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus Mercedes	1:38.842s	+1.015s	23
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	1:39.187s	+1.360s	20
14	Jolyon Palmer	Lotus Mercedes	1:39.283s	+1.456s	31
15	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:39.293s	+1.466s	23
16	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:39.532s	+1.705s	22
17	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:39.534s	+1.707s	21
18	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia	1:42.973s	+5.146s	12
19	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia	1:44.265s	+6.438s	15
20	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	–	–	2