Nico Rosberg topped the times for Mercedes in Friday's second free practice session ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix after the Force India team chose to withdraw early on safety grounds. The 26-year-old German followed up his maiden Formula One victory in last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai with a controlled demonstration of his potential and the speed of his Mercedes car. On a tense day with intensified security around the Sakhir Circuit, Rosberg produced a measured performance to clock the best lap midway through the 90-minutes' action in one minute and 32.816 seconds. This lap time left him four-tenths of a second clear of nearest rival Australian Mark Webber of Red Bull who, in turn, was ahead of his teammate defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Germany. World championship leader Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, who topped the times in the morning's opening free practice session, was unable to repeat his pace and struggled to fourth with a revised set-up as the track temperature fell from 40 degrees Celsius to 33 degrees. The Force India team chose to take no part in the second session, instead preparing its cars for Saturday's running — having used its allocation of soft tires in the morning — in order to make an early departure to its hotel before nightfall. Four of the team's mechanics had been caught up in a confrontation between police and protesters on the highway back to the capital city Manama Wednesday evening when a petrol bomb exploded close to its unbranded rental car. Two members of the Silverstone-based team reacted to the incident by asking to leave and they flew home Thursday. The Sauber team Friday also issued a statement that confirmed they drove through a similar incident Thursday evening. None of the 12 mechanics in the unmarked mini-bus were hurt. Speaking to the media at the circuit, alongside Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and in front of television crews broadcasting live to their countries, Crown Prince Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa made clear that calls for the race to be scrapped would fall on deaf ears. “I think canceling the race just empowers extremists,” he declared. Seven-time champion German Michael Schumacher, 43, was fifth in the second Mercedes ahead of Hamilton's McLaren teammate and compatriot Jenson Button, Japanese Kamui Kobayash of Sauber and two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. Frenchman Romain Grosjean was ninth for Lotus and Mexican Sergio Perez of Sauber wound up 10th.
