Bahrain GP. FP2 Report. Nico Rosberg topped the times in a practice session for the seventh time so far this year in the action-filled second Friday practice in Bahrain, while plenty of big guns struggled to make an impression on the track.
Williams's practice pace is now almost expected, as the team tend to run lighter than most in order to beat the marauding pack behind them. Here, Rosberg spent most of the session scratching about near the bottom of the times as he racked up a few race stint simulations, though there was still time to set a traditional session-topper on the soft tyres near the end.
The fact remains though, that despite the German now being fastest in seven of the eleven practice sessions to date, and yet the driver and the team languish so far down both championships. Practice form is fair enough, but the time really is here for them to deliver the solid points finishes that it deserves.
Another man benefiting from a slightly dubious fuel load was Fernando Alonso. The Renault man, as in FP1 spent much of the session rooted to the foot of the times, but he improved to fourth as he started a qualifying simulation, before going second late on.
The early running was done by the Toyota team, who had the benefit of having tested here over the winter, and Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were first and second in the times for the opening half of the 90 minutes, having started their soft tyre runs earlier than most. Trulli kept hold of third place by the end, while Glock slipped to 8th.
The Red Bulls returned to the front after a lackadaisical FP1. Vettel and Webber finished the session 4th and 5th, ahead of the Brawn GP car of Jenson Button, although the longer stints on the soft tyres for both cars seemed to indicate that the Brawns suffered less degredation than their caffeinated rivals. Button's team mate, Rubens Barrichello, ended 9th.
The newly-double diffused Force Indias enjoyed another productive session, with Adrian Sutil finishing inside the top ten after a last-gasp lap, taking 7th place, while Giancarlo Fisichella, who topped the times earlier in the session, finished 11th.
Lewis Hamilton, fastest in FP1, had a scruffy time of things, flat spotting at least one tyre and running wide a few more times on his way to 11th, indicating that the pace of the McLaren still isn't quite there despite his morning fillip. Not as the Brit was the only driver who endured a dusty moment through the tarmac run offs, with the turn nine and ten complex again catching out plenty of drivers.
One of those drivers was the hapless Nelson Piquet Jr, whose own moment in the corner followed an earlier incident when he clunked a kerb horribly and damaged his front wing. The Brazilian ended 15th, and though there's no real way of knowing his fuel load in the closing moments compared to his superlight team mate, it was still another naff effort from the under-pressure driver.
The bottom five drivers in the session contained a glut of humbled talent. After their soft tyre quick stuff in the morning session, the BMWs returned to their de rigeur 2009 "all at sea" mode, with Kubica salvaging 17th and Heidfeld ending slowest of all. The two Ferraris were also being shown up, with Massa again beating his KERS-less team mate Raikkonen. Not as finishing 16th compared to 18th was much to cheer about.
Heikki Kovalainen completed the famous five at the foot of the times, the Finn unable to match Hamilton's admittedly average pace, though he did spend a lot of the session carrying a fair bit of fuel.
Overall, the field seems to have largely returned to it's dry weather pecking order, with Brawn still looking in the box seat for qualifying and the race despite not stunning the times today. Red Bull and Toyota are on their tail over a single lap, but the race itself may again be Button's to lose.
| | FP2 Times
| | | |
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Laps |
| 1 | Nico Rosberg
| Williams - Toyota
| 1:33.339
| 36
|
| 2 | Fernando Alonso
| Renault
| 1:33.530
| 25
|
| 3 | Jarno Trulli
| Toyota
| 1:33.616
| 37
|
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel
| Red Bull - Renault | 1:33.661
| 29
|
| 5 | Mark Webber
| Red Bull - Renault
| 1:33.676
| 32
|
| 6 | Jenson Button
| Brawn - Mercedes
| 1:33.694
| 35
|
| 7 | Adrian Sutil
| Force India - Mercedes
| 1:33.763
| 30
|
| 8 | Timo Glock
| Toyota
| 1:33.764
| 37
|
| 9 | Rubens Barrichello
| Brawn - Mercedes
| 1:33.885
| 30
|
| 10 | Kazuki Nakajima
| Williams - Toyota
| 1:33.899
| 36
|
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton
| McLaren - Mercedes
| 1:33.994
| 30 |
| 12 | Giancarlo Fisichella
| Force India - Mercedes
| 1:34.025
| 23
|
| 13 | Sebastien Buemi
| Toro Rosso - Ferrari
| 1:34.127
| 37
|
| 14 | Sebastien Bourdais
| Toro Rosso - Ferrari
| 1:34.366
| 26 |
| 15 | Nelson Piquet Jr
| Renault
| 1:34.411
| 29
|
| 16 | Felipe Massa
| Ferrari
| 1:34.564
| 34 |
| 17 | Robert Kubica
| BMW Sauber
| 1:34.605
| 31
|
| 18 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari
| 1:34.670
| 28
|
| 19 | Heikki Kovalainen
| McLaren - Mercedes
| 1:34.764
| 35
|
| 20 | Nick Heidfeld
| BMW Sauber
| 1:34.790
| 33
|
