FORMULA ONE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX:NICO ROSBERG followed up his first Formula One win with Mercedes with the fastest lap in yesterday's practice for a Bahrain Grand Prix overshadowed by petrol bombs and protests elsewhere in the Gulf kingdom.
The German, who delivered the first victory by a Mercedes works team since 1955 at last weekends Chinese Grand Prix, lapped the desert Sakhir circuit in one minute 32.816 seconds in the afternoon session.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the morning, when Formula One cars took to the reconfigured track for the first time in more than two years after last year’s race was cancelled following a bloody crackdown on an anti-government uprising.
Human rights activists and pro-democracy protesters have called on the glamour sport to cancel the event again this year.
“That was a good start to the weekend,” said Rosberg, a winner after 110 unsuccessful attempts.
“The most important thing still is to improve our race pace. The conditions are really tough out there so the race will be quite demanding from the tyre perspective,” added the German, who was fourth before lunch.
Australian Mark Webber was second fastest for Red Bull in the same session, ahead of team-mate and double world champion Sebastian Vettel. The two drivers used different exhaust configurations in China, with Vettel reverting to one used in pre-season testing after finding an update not to his liking.
“Regarding set-up, I think we got the answers in China that we were looking for and that’s helped us here,” said Vettel who was second on the morning timesheets. With tight security beyond the metal fences of the paddock, and few spectators in the stands, drivers got down to business on a circuit whose layout has been shortened since 2010 when fans witnessed a boring race with little overtaking.
Hamilton, the 2008 champion who is leading the standings after three successive third places, said looking after the tyres was going to be the big challenge in the blazing conditions.
“The temperatures keep on rising until it feels just like driving on an ice-rink, he said, after finishing fourth in the afternoon.
