» 2013 Bahrain GP: The Finn flies in FP2

Kimi Räikkönen has moved Lotus to the top of the timesheets at the conclusion of Friday’s on-track activity at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Finn narrowly edged out the Red Bull Racing duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, who rounded out the top-three positions.

A short and sharp rain shower hit the Bahrain International Circuit shortly before the afternoon’s second practice session began, following Ferrari’s 1-2 on the timesheets in the morning opening practice session.

The entire field initially concentrated on more Hard-compound tyre running – in which Red Bull and the Ferraris were again fastest – before switching to the first Medium-compound running of the day. It was on these tyres that Räikkönen emerged quickest, posting two purple sectors on his fastest lap to edge out Webber by just three-hundredths of a second.

Following the Red Bull Racing duo came the two Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who sandwiched Paul di Resta’s Force India on the timesheets. Räikkönen’s teammate Romain Grosjean was seventh-fastest in a new E21 chassis, but was still almost half a second slower than the Finn.

Nico Rosberg was the fastest of the Mercedes runners in eighth place; he and teammate Lewis Hamilton sandwich the second Force India of Adrian Sutil.

Neither McLaren made the top-ten on the timesheets, with Jenson Button winding up eleventh quickest and teammate Sergio Pérez two spots further back.

Following on from a solid points’ finish in China last weekend, the Toro Rossos of Jean-Éric Vergne (12th) and Daniel Ricciardo (14th) were quicker than their chief rivals from Sauber and Williams, whose drivers occupied positions fifteen to eighteen.

The usual suspects from Caterham and Marussia occupied the last four positions on the timesheets, although this time it was not Jules Bianchi who led the quartet. The Frenchman finished 21st-quickest, while his compatriot Charles Pic suffered a damaged front wing when his Caterham was hit by the struggling Esteban Gutiérrez at the Turn 8 hairpin.

2013 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1 Renault E21	1:34.154		31
2.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing Renault RB9	1:34.184	+ 0.030	26
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault RB9	1:34.282	+ 0.128	29
4.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F138	1:34.310	+ 0.156	29
5.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM06	1:34.543	+ 0.389	35
6.	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari F138	1:34.552	+ 0.398	34
7.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Renault E21	1:34.631	+ 0.477	33
8.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04	1:34.666	+ 0.512	37
9.	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes VJM06	1:34.932	+ 0.778	33
10.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04	1:34.976	+ 0.822	29
11.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-28	1:35.356	+ 1.202	32
12.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8	1:35.506	+ 1.352	36
13.	Sergio Pérez	McLaren Mercedes MP4-28	1:35.589	+ 1.435	37
14.	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8	1:35.761	+ 1.607	33
15.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber Ferrari C32	1:36.133	+ 1.979	36
16.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Renault FW35	1:36.279	+ 2.125	33
17.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Renault FW35	1:36.579	+ 2.425	28
18.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber Ferrari C32	1:36.616	+ 2.462	34
19.	Charles Pic	Caterham Renault CT03	1:37.061	+ 2.907	33
20.	Max Chilton	Marussia Cosworth MR02	1:37.313	+ 3.159	33
21.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia Cosworth MR02	1:37.363	+ 3.209	29
22.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Renault CT03	1:37.970	+ 3.816	34