Bahrain – Free Practice 2: Advantage Rosberg!

The drivers head out for a new one-and-a-half-hour practice session in conditions unchanged from Free Practice 1. However, the drivers of the Sahara Force India team will not be running this afternoon for logistical reasons, although unofficially it is so the Silverstone-based team can allow its members to reach their respective hotels before nightfall.

Narain Karthikeyan is the first driver to hit the track as soon as the green light is on at the end of the pit lane, and he is the first to complete a timed lap in 1:41.710 on medium tires. While Pastor Maldonado logically improves on this time, drivers continue to make small excursions on the track at the start of the session as a thin layer of sand must have settled on the surface.

But after 10 minutes of trials, Jenson Button pushes the nose of his McLaren to the top of the hierarchy with a time of 1:34.500 on medium tires. Schumacher, on the other hand, falls short by 5 thousandths of the Briton’s best time, but the Red Bull drivers are quick to make their presence known, starting with Mark Webber who sets a lap of 1:34.366 before returning to the pits. After briefly conceding it to Nico Rosberg, Red Bull retakes the top of the timesheet thanks to Sebastian Vettel, who sets a lap that impresses at Ferrari: Fernando 5th, Felipe 9th, but Vettel records the best time at 1:33.639, which is impressive, as noted by the men from Maranello on Twitter.

Pastor Maldonado is the first to put on the soft tires and climbs to 7th place in the hierarchy. Sebastian Vettel follows the Venezuelan’s lead a few minutes later and improves his own best time to 1:35.525. But the reigning double world champion doesn’t hold onto the lead for long, as Nico Rosberg sets a blistering lap in 1:32.816 on soft tires.

The session then decreases in intensity and, midway through, Rosberg is ahead of Webber, Vettel, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Alonso, Button, Grosjean, Hamilton, and Perez, while only the Force India drivers, who are not participating in this session, have not completed a single lap. The Indian team also quickly released its traditional Friday statement.

While he is the only driver not yet to have fitted medium tires, Jenson Button complains of a massive lack of grip in the second sector of the circuit as Michael Schumacher sets the stage for the best time but gets stuck behind a Caterham in turn 8: the German remains in 4th place. Approaching the final corner, Bruno Senna has a scare without consequences behind Petrov’s CT01.

The drivers are now working on race preparations while Mark Webber is informed that he is – once again – a victim of a KERS problem.

As the final half hour approaches, Jenson Button finally switches to soft tires but remains 1.4 seconds off Rosberg’s best time, which is likely due to a slightly heavier fuel load in the MP4-27. Lewis Hamilton does only slightly better with a time of 1:33.747, which nevertheless allows him to climb to 4th place in the provisional standings.

On a long stint, started at the same time as Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg was nearly two-tenths faster than the Australian. The Red Bull driver completed 11 laps and returned to the pits, followed the next lap by the Mercedes driver.

Most of the drivers finish the session on long stints, mostly on soft tires, except for Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, and Mark Webber. Ten minutes before the end of the session, only Charles Pic is missing but he soon leaves his garage. On soft tires, Kimi Räikkönen laps around the 1:38 mark while with the same tires, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are lapping more at 1:40/1:41. After finishing his stint on medium tires, Fernando Alonso returns to the track on soft tires.

Under the checkered flag, no significant improvement took place, and Nico Rosberg maintained the best time ahead of Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, and Michael Schumacher. Once again facing difficulties, the Ferrari drivers are in 8th and 12th positions, while, for the record, the Force India team did not run at all during the session.

Free Practice 2 Rankings of the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix: