Just as he did in the first practice session on Friday, Lewis Hamilton has finished fastest in FP2 in Bahrain to lead a Mercedes one-two as Nico Rosberg closely followed his teammate in second place.
The British driver posted a fastest lap of 1:34.325 to beat his teammate, and finish over one second clear of the quickest non-Mercedes driver, Fernando Alonso, in third place.
As darkness descended and the lights came on, Formula 1 entered new territory with the first night-time running for the sport at the Bahrain International Circuit. With conditions being far more representative of the race now than they had been during FP1, most of the teams quickly sent out their drivers to get in some lap times.
Predictably, Mercedes laid down the initial benchmark once again on the medium compound tire as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg carried their good form from FP1 into the second session. Hamilton edged out his teammate by 0.095 seconds after their first runs on the medium tire, proving just how evenly matched the two drivers are. Daniel Ricciardo posed the strongest challenge to Mercedes’ dominance on the medium tire, but he was over half a second down on Hamilton.
However, the team did not have it all its own way as Rosberg unintentionally blocked Sergio Perez at the final corner, and both drivers have been called before the stewards to explain the incident.
After half an hour of the session, most of the drivers opted to switch to the soft tire in pursuit of a quicker lap time. In the battle at the top, Rosberg reclaimed first place with a lap that was almost two seconds quicker than Hamilton’s best effort, albeit on the faster tire. Perez moved up into second place with his first effort before Hamilton finally emerged from the pits, and restored the Mercedes one-two by going three-tenths faster than his teammate. Fernando Alonso sat in third place after the soft tire qualifying runs, over one second down on Hamilton’s time.
One team that impressed on the soft tire was Marussia, who got Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton up into P9 and P10 at one point. Although they soon dropped down the order, it was a good showing from the backmarker team that still chases its first point in Formula 1. Chilton’s session came to an early end after a brake problem at the final corner left him stranded in the run-off area, and Adrian Sutil’s car also came to a halt just a few minutes later, ending the Sauber driver’s session. Marcus Ericsson was the third and final driver to come to a halt out on track with just six minutes remaining in the session.
Most of the teams soon turned attention to their race simulations, meaning that the Mercedes drivers remained unchallenged at the top of the timesheets. After spending most of the session in the pits, Williams finally sent its drivers out, but neither Valtteri Bottas nor Felipe Massa could bother the front-runners.
Come the checkered flag, it was Mercedes who once again enjoyed a one-two finish, and after laying down an impressive race pace during the long runs on Friday evening, it appears that it will take something out of the norm to stop either Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg from claiming pole position in qualifying tomorrow.
