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Germany’s Nico Rosberg was the form driver after the morning laps of the fourth day of the second pre-season Formula One test session at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir yesterday. |
The Mercedes driver clocked the quickest time of 1min 34.810sec in ideal conditions during his morning stint and that was 2.269sec quicker than the time set by second-placed Jenson Button in his McLaren.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen was out on the circuit early with the Ferrari after the team lost such a lot of time with telemetry-related issues on Friday. His best time on Saturday morning was just over 3.3sec behind Rosberg.
Caterham opted to give Marcus Ericsson the helm of the car for the morning stint and delayed Kamui Kobayashi’s return to the cockpit until Saturday afternoon. But Ericsson’s experience was short-lived and the Caterham ground to a halt on the track and forced the red flag. His best early lap was 1min 45.094sec.
Williams confirmed overnight that Felipe Nasr would be their test driver for the season and he was given his first opportunity with the FW36 on Saturday. The Brazilian impressed from the outset and recorded a lap of 1min 39.760sec early in the session.
Lotus received vital spare parts that had been shipped from Enstone in England and missed the morning stint, as frantic work was carried out to set the cars up for the rest of the day.
England’s Lewis Hamilton had posted the fastest lap of the week on Friday with his tour of 1min 34.263sec on medium compound tyres.
Testing continues next week at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain, before the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship gets underway with the Australian Grand Prix on March 16th.
