Championship leader Nico Rosberg lapped more than a second quicker than last year's pole position time as Mercedes dominated Bahrain Grand Prix practice Friday. The German, who is chasing his fifth victory in a row after winning Formula One's season-opener in Australia and the last three races of 2015, led both sessions with his triple champion team mate Lewis Hamilton second. Rosberg's best lap of one minute 31.001 seconds, in the floodlit evening session at the Sakhir circuit compared to Hamilton's 2015 pole of 1.32.671. Hamilton, winner for the past two years in Bahrain, was the only other driver to lap below the 1:32 mark with a best effort of 1:31.242. McLaren's Jenson Button produced a third best time of 1:32.281 on the super-soft tires. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen had been third fastest in the afternoon practice, a hefty 1.834 off Rosberg's pace on the same soft tires as the Mercedes pair. The Red Bulls of Australian Daniel Ricciardo and Russian Daniil Kvyat were fourth and fifth in that same session but Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen and Raikkonen filled those places in the evening. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, third in Australia, was sixth but pulled off the track and stopped late in the second session with a loose wheel. "The rear-left corner (wheel) is not tight. The nut is not on, that was the problem," the four-times world champion said over the team radio. Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne got to grips with the McLaren ahead of his Formula One race debut as stand-in for the injured Fernando Alonso and was 18th on the 22-driver timesheet in the first session. The rookie moved up to 11th after another 30 laps in the second practice. Vandoorne, who flew in from Japan where he is racing in the Super Formula series this season, had not previously driven the 2016 McLaren. Spaniard Alonso was ruled out Thursday, after failing to pass a medical following his big crash in Australia, and could also miss the following race in China on April 17. Drivers wanted to be heard, says Hamilton World champion Lewis Hamilton has given his explanation for the drivers' decision to issue an open letter requesting a radical rethink in Formula One. The 31-year-old Briton, whose spectacular speed and bold attacking style has made him the sport's biggest star, said the drivers simply wanted to be heard when it came to decision-making. "I don't have all the answers," said the Mercedes driver. "The same as you won't have all the answers — just as Bernie wont have all the answers. "None of us has all the answers. We all have an opinion about something. It's picking out what the good parts and the right opinions are... "For us, as drivers, we just wanted to be included a little bit. "Not included in making the decisions, but let's give you our input so you know what our limitation in the car is. As a driver, I know why it's hard for me to overtake. "I know what's good on my car. I know what's not good on my car, which is how I help the team develop — and there's things that need to be better. "From the 10 years of my experience — and Jenson's (Button) got 16 years and Fernando (Alonso) has perhaps 13-whatever years experience of Formula 1 — from all those years, trying different things, we know what's not been good whether it be tires, downforce, engines or whatever it may be. "I grew up racing karts and karting is wheel-to-wheel battling — bumper-to-bumper almost — and overtaking from lap to lap... And that's what we want to see. "The race I had here in 2014 was the most exciting Formula One race I've ever had. We need that more often, if not every weekend." Last week Button and Sebastian Vettel led calls for a radical rethink in Formula One, insisting that controversial changes threaten the sport's very future. Drivers last week put their names to an open letter from the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) describing technical and sporting changes as "disruptive." They also blasted the world championship decision-making progress as "obsolete and ill-structured." — Agencies
