In the first two days of practice, ahead of this weekend’s opening round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship 2010 in Bahrain, Mercedes have shown that they are to be this years trailblazers with the first and third best times posted in Friday practice.
Nico Rosberg was fastest, posting a lap of 1:55.555, while many eyes were on returning 7 times World Champion Michael Schumacher, also of Mercedes GP, who posted the third best time, 0.494 (nearly half a second) shy of the time set by his teammate. The two Mercedes GP men were split by Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, which also runs a Mercedes engine, so, all-in-all, it was a great practice for the German manufacturer.
Jenson Button, defending World Champ, wasn’t far away in fourth place, making it Merces-McLaren-Mercedes-McLaren for the top four as we head into Saturday’s qualifying round.
Expect Schumacher to turn on the style tomorrow, however, as he explained that the team had had “a few issues with the balance this morning. The car felt much better in the second session although I am still a little rusty on one-lap runs and need to get back into the routine… I’m happy with our work today and feeling ready for the weekend.”
Bahrain Grand Prix Friday Practice Times:
- Nico Rosberg – Mercedes GP – 1:55.409
- Lewis Hamilton – McLaren – 1:55.854
- Michael Schumacher – Mercedes GP – 1:55.903
- Jenson Button – McLaren – 1:56.706
- Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull – 1:56.459
- Nico Hulkenburg – Williams – 1:56.501
- Felipe Massa – Ferrari – 1:56.555
- Vitaly Petrov – Renault – 1:56.750
- Fernando Alonso – Ferrari – 1:57.140
- Pedro de la Rosa – BMW Sauber – 1:57.255