Nico Rosberg looks to be the man to beat in Bahrain following on from his impressive form in China last weekend.
The Mercedes driver set the quickest lap during second practice for the Bahrain GP, some half a second quicker than Mark Webber’s Red Bull.
Sebastian Vettel secured P3 with FP1 leader Lewis Hamilton in fourth ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button.
Ferrari faired better with Fernando Alonso the eighth quickest man on track ahead of the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.
The session was again a straight forward one, with very little out of the ordinary to report.
The Force India duo of Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg failed to turn a wheel during FP2 after the team opted not to run following concerns over safety [Full story here].
2012 Bahrain GP FP2 Results:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:32.816 | 35 | |
| 02. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:33.262 | +0.446 | 26 |
| 03. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:33.525 | +0.709 | 28 |
| 04. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:33.747 | +0.931 | 26 |
| 05. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:33.862 | +1.046 | 32 |
| 06. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:34.246 | +1.430 | 28 |
| 07. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:34.411 | +1.595 | 34 |
| 08. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:34.449 | +1.633 | 31 |
| 09. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:34.615 | +1.799 | 32 |
| 10. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:34.893 | +2.077 | 34 |
| 11. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:34.895 | +2.079 | 29 |
| 12. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:34.941 | +2.125 | 30 |
| 13. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:35.183 | +2.367 | 33 |
| 14. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:35.229 | +2.413 | 26 |
| 15. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:35.459 | +2.643 | 38 |
| 16. | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:35.913 | +3.097 | 33 |
| 17. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:35.968 | +3.152 | 35 |
| 18. | B. Senna | Williams | 1:36.169 | +3.353 | 30 |
| 19. | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:36.587 | +3.771 | 33 |
| 20. | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:37.803 | +4.987 | 33 |
| 21. | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:37.812 | +4.996 | 28 |
| 22. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:39.649 | +6.833 | 27 |
| 23. | P. di Resta | Force India | |||
| 24. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India |
