It was an all Mercedes benefit in the second free practice session at the 2010 Bahrain GP, with their engines powering the top-four fastest drivers of the second 90-minute session.
Rosberg moved to the top of the timesheets after 20 minutes of the session had elapsed, and he remained there for the rest of the session, taking a further tenth of his time at about the half-hour mark.
With much of the field opting to try longer runs and race set-ups, the lap times remained as static as the leaderboard itself.
In fifth was Sebastian Vettel ahead of his compatriot Nico Hülkenberg in the Williams. Sebastian was the only Red Bull backed driver to have a decent second practice session: his team-mate Mark Webber pulled into the pits with a driveshaft problem after only 5 laps’ running.
The Toro Rosso drivers fared little better than their sister team, as Sébastien Buemi was confined to the pit lane for literally the entire session. Jaim Alguersuari spent the session testing the limits of his STR5 through the new infield section of the Sakhir circuit, and was lucky not to throw the car into the barriers after spinning across the track.
Ferrari slipped down the timesheets after its pace in the morning, with Felipe Massa seventh and Fernando Alonso in ninth.
Splitting the Ferraris was the Renault of rookie Vitaly Petrov, who had an impressive session and showed a decent turn of pace.
Session 1 pacesetters Force India fell down the timesheets in the afternoon, with Adrian Sutil in 12th behind the two Saubers.
Of the rookie teams, Lotus got even with Virgin Racing and went quicker in this session, courtesy of some late low-fuel runs in the closing minutes of play. The 1Malaysia-owned outfit lapped within 5.5s of the front runners, as opposed to the 7-second gap shown in the morning.
Finally, Bruno Senna managed some timed laps in his HRT Cosworth, but he was miles off the pace in what was literally a shakedown run for the car. He had a momentary scare when the car wobbled under braking and slid off the circuit at the first corner, with replays indicating that it had shed a wheelnut. Sadly for Bruno’s team-mate Karun Chandhok, it was a day spent twiddling his thumbs as his car was not ready to leave the garage. The Indian runner will only have one hours’ practice tomorrow to shake his car down before qualifying, and is on the steepest learning curve of his life.
2010 Bahrain GP Practice 2 Session Times:
Driver | Team | Time | Laps | |
1. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1:55.409 | 23 |
2. | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren Mercedes | 1:55.854 | 22 |
3. | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1:55.903 | 23 |
4. | Jenson Button | McLaren Mercedes | 1:56.076 | 28 |
5. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Renault | 1:56.459 | 18 |
6. | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams Cosworth | 1:56.501 | 26 |
7. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:56.555 | 30 |
8. | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:56.750 | 26 |
9. | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:57.140 | 25 |
10. | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber Ferrari | 1:57.255 | 24 |
11. | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber Ferrari | 1:57.352 | 27 |
12. | Adrian Sutil | Force India Mercedes | 1:57.361 | 29 |
13. | Rubens Barrichello | Williams Cosworth | 1:57.452 | 21 |
14. | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India Mercedes | 1:57.833 | 29 |
15. | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:58.155 | 29 |
16. | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso Ferrari | 1:59.799 | 31 |
17. | Mark Webber | Red Bull Renault | 2:00.444 | 12 |
18. | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus Cosworth | 2:00.873 | 23 |
19. | Jarno Trulli | Lotus Cosworth | 2:00.990 | 14 |
20. | Timo Glock | Virgin Racing Cosworth | 2:02.037 | 3 |
21. | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin Racing Cosworth | 2:02.188 | 21 |
22. | Bruno Senna | HRT Cosworth | 2:06.968 | 17 |
23. | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso Ferrari | no time | 1 |
24. | Karun Chandhok | HRT Cosworth | no time |
[Image via ITV-F1]
Richard Bailey
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