Nico Rosberg was easily the quickest man on the final day of the second pre-season test in Bahrain, and whilst times mean very little, his 1:33.283 – under a second off last years pole time – will surely raise some eyebrows.
The Mercedes driver found a second over Lewis Hamilton’s best time from Friday, to go 1.6 seconds clear of Jenson Button’s McLaren in second.
Kimi Raikkonen was a further two seconds back, but managed a race simulation as he circulated the track more than 80 times.
Felipe Nasr made his debut for Williams as their test driver, going fourth quickest with a time of 1:37.569, with the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado fifth.
Red Bull’s miserable time continued with Daniel Ricciardo able to complete just 15 laps. The team opted to work on the car for much of the afternoon, despite doing the same on Friday.
It was a similar story for the other Renault-powered cars as all but Lotus managed just a handful of laps.
Bahrain Testing Times (Saturday):
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | N.Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:33.283 | 89 | |
| 02 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:34.957 | +1.674 | 66 |
| 03 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:36.718 | +3.435 | 82 |
| 04 | F. Nasr | Williams | 1:37.569 | +4.286 | 87 |
| 05 | P. Maldonado | Lotus | 1:38.707 | +5.424 | 59 |
| 06 | S. Perez | Force India | 1:39.258 | +5.975 | 19 |
| 07 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:39.837 | +6.554 | 15 |
| 08 | J-E. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:40.472 | +7.189 | 19 |
| 09 | K. Kobayashi | Caterham | 1:43.027 | +9.744 | 17 |
| 10 | M. Ericsson | Caterham | 1:45.094 | +11.811 | 4 |
| 11 | J. Bianchi | Marussia | No Time | 5 | |
| 12 | A. Sutil | Sauber | No Time | 5 |
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