Rosberg heads Hamilton and Button in FP2

November 28, 2019 Off By EveAim

Nico Rosberg was again quickest in second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix as McLaren showed encouraging pace.

With Mercedes having been over 1.8s clear of the field in the opening session, the gap remained over a second as Rosberg’s time of 1:31.001 on the supersoft tyre saw him a quarter of a second clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and nearly 1.3s ahead of Jenson Button in third place.

Not only was Ferrari limited to fifth and sixth quickest behind Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso, Sebastian Vettel also lost out on some running as he was forced to stop on track. The German complained of a lack of power and pulled off at Turn 8, and when he inspected the car Vettel found the left rear tyre was not properly attached.

Vettel was 0.2s slower than team-mate Kimi Raikkonen during the session, but did make a mistake on his supersoft tyre lap which cost him the opportunity to improve his time, meaning his best lap was set on the softs.

Another Ferrari-powered team also found itself in trouble late in the session as Romain Grosjean suffered two problems in the Haas. Grosjean ran out on to the kerb exiting Turn 12 and his front wing appeared to fail, dropping at the front of the car and leaving some debris on the circuit. Haas also suffered a front wing failure on the first day of pre-season testing.

Grosjean was able to return to the pits and take on a new wing but his next run saw him forced to pit after smoke started emerging from the rear of his car exiting Turn 13.

With Button and Verstappen both in the top four, Red Bull and Williams both featured in the top ten in what was another close session Verstappen in fourth place was exactly one second faster than 15th-placed Sergio Perez.

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Stoffel Vandoorne enjoyed a trouble-free second session and was 11th quickest in the second McLaren, 0.7s slower than team-mate Button. FP2 also saw encouraging signs for Manor with Pascal Wehrlein in 19th – ahead of both Saubers – and just 0.3s adrift of Jolyon Palmer’s Renault despite not running the supersoft tyre.

AS IT HAPPENED: Bahrain Grand Prix FP2

FP1 REPORT: Rosberg fastest as Mercedes sets blistering pace

Romain Grosjean’s exclusive F1i column – Bahrain

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Pos Driver Team Time Laps

01
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
1:31.001
38

02
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:31.242
32

03
Jenson Button
McLaren
1:32.281
32

04
Max Verstappen
Toro Rosso
1:32.406
31

05
Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari
1:32.452
38

06
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
1:32.650
26

07
Daniil Kvyat
Red Bull
1:32.703
34

08
Valtteri Bottas
Williams
1:32.792
39

09
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
1:32.870
23

10
Felipe Massa
Williams
1:32.873
36

11
Stoffel Vandoorne
McLaren
1:32.999
30

12
Esteban Gutierrez
Haas
1:33.129
31

13
Carlos Sainz
Toro Rosso
1:33.177
36

14
Romain Grosjean
Haas
1:33.384
23

15
Sergio Perez
Force India
1:33.406
35

16
Kevin Magnussen
Renault
1:33.447
34

17
Nico Hulkenberg
Force India
1:33.570
37

18
Jolyon Palmer
Renault
1:33.640
35

19
Pascal Wehrlein
Manor
1:33.953
21

20
Marcus Ericsson
Sauber
1:34.224
31

21
Felipe Nasr
Sauber
1:34.477
34

22
Rio Haryanto
Manor
1:34.562
33