Following his win in China only five days ago, Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets in second free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix. After the second 90-minute session of Friday, the Mercedes driver was adamant that victory still remains a long way off.
Thanks to the higher ambient and track temperatures at Sakhir, the majority still looks to McLaren when it comes to predicting pole sitters and race winners this weekend.
“That was a good start to the weekend and, whilst it's nice to be quickest today, we know that doesn't count,” Rosberg admitted.
“The most important thing still is to improve our race pace. For the moment, it looks reasonable but we need to analyse where we are on high fuel levels compared to our competitors and draw our conclusions. The conditions are really tough out there, so the race will be quite demanding from the tyre perspective.”
Team-mate Michael Schumacher ended his afternoon in fifth place.
“We started well today and our long runs are satisfying, as well as our overall times,” said the 2004 Bahrain winner. “Unfortunately, I could not complete my fast lap properly due to traffic. We will have to see what the outcome will be tomorrow and on Sunday, as the tyres go away very quickly.”
In Mercedes’ only Bahrain Grand Prix thus far, which took place in 2010, Rosberg finished fifth as Schumacher took the chequered flag in sixth position.
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:32.816 | 35 |
| 2. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:33.262 | 26 |
| 3. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:33.525 | 28 |
| 4. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:33.747 | 26 |
| 5. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:33.862 | 32 |
| 6. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:34.246 | 28 |
| 7. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 01:34.411 | 34 |
| 8. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:34.449 | 31 |
| 9. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 01:34.615 | 32 |
| 10. | S. Perez | Sauber | 01:34.893 | 34 |
| Full results | ||||
| Michael Schumacher | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Michael Schumacher photos | |||
| Nico Rosberg | |||
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| More Nico Rosberg photos | |||
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