Nico Rosberg was again quickest in second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix as McLaren showed encouraging pace.
With Mercedes having been over 1.8s clear of the field in the opening session, the gap remained over a second as Rosberg's time of 1:31.001 on the supersoft tyre saw him a quarter of a second clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and nearly 1.3s ahead of Jenson Button in third place.
Not only was Ferrari limited to fifth and sixth quickest behind Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso, Sebastian Vettel also lost out on some running as he was forced to stop on track. The German complained of a lack of power and pulled off at Turn 8, and when he inspected the car Vettel found the left rear tyre was not properly attached.
Vettel was 0.2s slower than team-mate Kimi Raikkonen during the session, but did make a mistake on his supersoft tyre lap which cost him the opportunity to improve his time, meaning his best lap was set on the softs.
Another Ferrari-powered team also found itself in trouble late in the session as Romain Grosjean suffered two problems in the Haas. Grosjean ran out on to the kerb exiting Turn 12 and his front wing appeared to fail, dropping at the front of the car and leaving some debris on the circuit. Haas also suffered a front wing failure on the first day of pre-season testing.
Grosjean was able to return to the pits and take on a new wing but his next run saw him forced to pit after smoke started emerging from the rear of his car exiting Turn 13.
With Button and Verstappen both in the top four, Red Bull and Williams both featured in the top ten in what was another close session Verstappen in fourth place was exactly one second faster than 15th-placed Sergio Perez.
Stoffel Vandoorne enjoyed a trouble-free second session and was 11th quickest in the second McLaren, 0.7s slower than team-mate Button. FP2 also saw encouraging signs for Manor with Pascal Wehrlein in 19th - ahead of both Saubers - and just 0.3s adrift of Jolyon Palmer's Renault despite not running the supersoft tyre.
AS IT HAPPENED: Bahrain Grand Prix FP2
FP1 REPORT: Rosberg fastest as Mercedes sets blistering pace
Romain Grosjean's exclusive F1i column - Bahrain
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| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:31.001 | 38 |
| 02 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:31.242 | 32 |
| 03 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:32.281 | 32 |
| 04 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:32.406 | 31 |
| 05 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:32.452 | 38 |
| 06 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:32.650 | 26 |
| 07 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:32.703 | 34 |
| 08 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:32.792 | 39 |
| 09 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:32.870 | 23 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:32.873 | 36 |
| 11 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:32.999 | 30 |
| 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 1:33.129 | 31 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:33.177 | 36 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:33.384 | 23 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:33.406 | 35 |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:33.447 | 34 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:33.570 | 37 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:33.640 | 35 |
| 19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 1:33.953 | 21 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:34.224 | 31 |
| 21 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:34.477 | 34 |
| 22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor | 1:34.562 | 33 |
