So first blood to the young pretender. On a day when all eyes were on Michael Schumacher’s comeback to Formula One after three years in retirement, it was his team-mate who stole the show in practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Nico Rosberg emerged from Schumacher’s shadow to post the fastest time of the day in what is becoming an intriguing national contest between England and Germany. Rosberg, with Schumacher in third place, in their Mercedes cars ahead of the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton, in second and 0.445 seconds off Rosberg’s pace, and Jenson Button, who was fourth.
Schumacher admitted he had felt rusty on his return to the grid and conceded he needed to "raise his game" if he was to compete with Rosberg. "The car felt much better in the second session although I've got to raise my game a bit and I'm sure I'm able to," he said. "I certainly feel a little bit rusty, certainly on the one-lap issue I can do better. On long runs and consistent runs things are pretty good, I'm quite happy. I will just use the rest of the weekend in order to tweak out the little bits."
Sebastian Vettel rounded off the top five for Red Bull, but there was little sign during the day of the twin Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. They could be playing a waiting game but it was strange to see the expected big names gradually rise to the top of the timesheets as the two practice sessions progressed while Massa, who finished seventh, and Alonso, ninth, showed no signs of the pre-season pace that had them marked down as title favourites.
Alonso admitted Ferrari needed to make some changes before tomorrow's qualifying session but said he was still hopeful of getting on pole. "It's still completely unknown," he said. "For sure, out of the four big teams, any can be on pole. And there could be a surprise like Force India, who seem very quick on this type of circuit. We are in a position to attack 100 per cent. We are confident with the car - we need to make changes to improve the grip but there is nothing wrong."
Inevitably, on the first day of any Formula One season, there was one technical issue to cause some minor explosions among the teams. This time it was McLaren’s controversial new wing assembly, said to be controlled by the drivers altering the airflow through the car cockpit, which is then directed onto the rear wing. That means they can control the amount of drag over the wing and potentially lift the speed of the car by up to six mph on the straights.
The FIA, the governing body, has declared the wing design legal and the sound and fury was dying out last night with teams resigned to having to replicate the McLaren innovation.
That is unlikely to apply to the three new teams on the grid, who had a mixed start to their careers in Formula One. The Lotus Cosworths of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli look as though they have a chance of improving, but Virgin Racing’s two cars could be struggling, while HRT, the new Spanish team, were so far off the pace, they might be quicker calling a taxi for qualifying tomorrow.
Only Bruno Senna managed to get in some running, finishing a mighty 11.559 seconds off Rosberg’s fastest time, while Kanun Chandhok, the rookie who has never driven a Formula One car, will have to wait a little longer for his big moment. Mechanics had still not finished building his car by the end of practice, raising the prospect that the Indian will have to do his first runs in qualifying on Saturday afternoon – if he is allowed to run at all this weekend.
Bahrain Grand Prix: Second free practice session
1 Rosberg Mercedes 1m55.409s
2 Hamilton Mclaren 1m55.854s
3 Schumacher Mercedes 1m55.903s
4 Button Mclaren 1m56.076s
5 Vettel Red Bull 1m56.459s
6 Hulkenberg Williams 1m56.501s
7 Massa Ferrari 1m56.555s
8 Petrov Renault 1m56.750s
9 Alonso Ferrari 1m57.140s
10 De La Rosa Sauber 1m57.255s
11 Kobayashi Sauber 1m57.352s
12 Sutil Force India 1m57.361s
13 Barrichello Williams 1m57.452s
14 Liuzzi Force India 1m57.833s
15 Kubica Renault 1m58.155s
16 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m59.799s
17 Webber Red Bull 2m00.444s
18 Kovalainen Lotus 2m00.873s
19 Trulli Lotus 2m00.990s
20 Glock Virgin 2m02.037s
21 Di Grassi Virgin 2m02.188s
22 Senna Hrt 2m06.968s
23 Buemi Toro Rosso No Time
24 Chandhok Hrt No Time
Source:The Times
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