Mercedes maintain lead as Button surprises
F1 Grand Prix, GP Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit
Nico Rosberg continued to be the fastest man in second practice at Bahrain, edging out team mate Lewis Hamilton by little more than 2 tenths of a second. Behind the two Mercedes, Jenson Button in the McLaren was surprisingly the fastest rival, 1.3s down on the pace setter.
During the session, Romain Grosjean has a strange front wing failure as vibration from running wide over the kerbs seemed to knock off the left front wing endplate of his car. The Frenchman ran wide, but returned safely to the pits to get a new wing fitted.
Sebastian Vettel was also plagued with a technical failure, stopping alongside the track after saying he switched off the car after losing drive.
Results
| Pos. | .No. | .Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:31.001 | - | 38 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:31.242 | +0.241s | 32 |
| 3 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:32.281 | +1.280s | 32 |
| 4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:32.406 | +1.405s | 31 |
| 5 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:32.452 | +1.451s | 38 |
| 6 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:32.650 | +1.649s | 26 |
| 7 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:32.703 | +1.702s | 34 |
| 8 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:32.792 | +1.791s | 39 |
| 9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:32.870 | +1.869s | 23 |
| 10 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:32.873 | +1.872s | 36 |
| 11 | 47 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:32.999 | +1.998s | 30 |
| 12 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 1:33.129 | +2.128s | 31 |
| 13 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:33.177 | +2.176s | 36 |
| 14 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:33.384 | +2.383s | 23 |
| 15 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:33.406 | +2.405s | 35 |
| 16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:33.447 | +2.446s | 34 |
| 17 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:33.570 | +2.569s | 37 |
| 18 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:33.640 | +2.639s | 35 |
| 19 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 1:33.953 | +2.952s | 21 |
| 20 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:34.224 | +3.223s | 31 |
| 21 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:34.477 | +3.476s | 34 |
| 22 | 88 | Rio Haryanto | Manor | 1:34.562 | +3.561s | 33 |
