Using soft compound tyres, Raikkonen set a best time of 1m20.960s just over an hour into Tuesday afternoon's running – narrowly bettering Hamilton's session-topping morning effort of 1m20.983s, which was set using supersofts.
Hamilton's effort was still good enough to finish the day second overall, with Valtteri Bottas taking over driving duties for Mercedes for the afternoon.
2017 challenger christened W08 EQ Power+, launched exclusively online to fans in innovative 360 degree live broadcast during 100 km Filming Day in Silverstone, UK.
Wehrlein will be joining the Sauber F1 team for the 2017 race season letting us understand that Bottas will be the favor for taking Nico Rosberg's place.
It’s great to be back in Europe and to be back in Spain. It was a good start for us today with two good practice sessions. Times were looking good on the longer and also on the shorter stints. I feel very comfortable with the car with some new parts added and they seemed to have worked well.
Nico took his 17th career victory today – his second at the Shanghai International Circuit, four years after sealing his first Formula One win at the same venue
Nico Rosberg goes two-for-two and was fastest again ahead of Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes, but it was Jenson Button taking third place for McLaren in a nice surprise during the evening’s second practice in Bahrain.
Nico topped both practice session in Bahrain with Lewis P2 in eachBoth drivers used the Soft compound tyre only in FP1, the Soft and SuperSoft in FP2FP2 saw both Nico and Lewis eclipse the Bahrain Grand Prix race lap record of 1:31.447 set by Pedro de la Rosa in 2005
The start was tricky, as I was on the dirty side of the grid and Vettel managed to be ahead. He did a really good job at the start – but we chose the perfect strategy by going onto the medium tyre after the red flag.
The car performed well and although we didn’t get a huge number of laps in, they were still quite constructive sessions. I was lucky to get a couple of dry laps to get a tiny feeling for what the balance is like around here, which was down to some good work from the team to time my runs right.
Formula One is a sport – but it is also entertainment. Controversy, both on and off track, makes headlines. That’s not a bad thing – it’s part of the world we live in. But we can think about that later. For now, I can’t wait for the flag to drop in Melbourne: let battle commence...
Productive opening day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg continue to rack up the mileage in the new Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid Silver Arrow
MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS concluded the opening pre-season test of the 2016 season today at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid in the morning and Nico Rosberg in the cockpit during the afternoon.
MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS continued the opening pre-season test of the 2016 season today at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Nico Rosberg at the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid in the morning and Lewis Hamilton in the cockpit during the afternoon.