Summary Kimi Raikkonen recorded the fastest time during second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
SAKHIR (AP) - Kimi Raikkonen showcased his championship credentials by clocking the fastest time in the second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix followed by the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel on Friday.
Raikkonen, who won the season-opening Australian GP in his Lotus and lay second behind Vettel in the drivers championship, was 0.03 seconds faster than Webber and 0.12 quicker than Vettel.
Ferrari s Fernando Alonso was fourth while his teammate Felipe Massa, who topped the charts in the first practice, settled for sixth.
Force India s Paul di Resta was a surprising fifth.
Webber, racing in his 200th grand prix and looking to recover from a forgettable Chinese GP, was satisfied to be second fastest and get the edge on Vettel, who he has feuded with since the German overtook him to win the Malaysian GP. But, he added, just as important was gaining valuable insight into how the different tire compounds respond in the sandy conditions and 31-degree heat.
"I would have liked to have got some more running in P2, but I still think we learned what we expected today. Saturdays are perhaps becoming less important overall than they used to be, but they re still important in terms of traffic," Webber said. "You don t want to be in too much traffic on Sunday, as the tires don t like being disturbed and wear more, which will shorten your first stint - so you still need to be in a good position. We still have areas to improve on the car."
Vettel predicted a very close qualifying session with Lotus and Ferrari on Saturday.
"It s important to work with the tires around the track," Vettel said. "I wasn t so happy with my short runs - but that s why we have the Friday practice sessions. I was happier with the longer runs. The tires still seem to be the dominating factor.
The car seems quick, so we have to make sure we use that and then we should be on the right page."
Several drivers had trouble, including Mercedes Lewis Hamilton, who finished 10th, and McLaren s Jenson Button, who came in 11th the latest setback for a team that has struggled to be competitive.
"We worked as hard as we could today but couldn t quite get the balance of the car to where it needs to be," Hamilton said. "I had some issues in P1 which we were able to improve for this afternoon so that s a positive, but we need to identify where we are losing time and find more performance. We have changed the set-up of the car to what we thought would suit this track but we need to look at that and make sure it is the right direction to go."
The session was largely uneventful, except for Sauber s Esteban Gutierrez clipping his tire on the wing of Caterham s Charles Pic, forcing the Mexican back to the pits. Gutierrez has been slow to adjust to F1 and was penalized five grid places for the Bahrain race, after he was blamed for a collision with Force India s Adrian Sutil in China.
The race has been overshadowed to some degree by the political crisis in the divided Gulf country.
While the circuit has been quiet, daily clashes have taken place in nearby Shiite villages between pro-democracy protesters and riot police. Hardline protesters hope to embarrass the ruling royal family with increased violence, while more moderate protesters, who support the race, merely want to highlight their demands for a greater voice in the country.
Rights groups, meanwhile, have condemned the race going ahead amid allegations of crackdowns and widespread arrest of government opponents.
Several teams, including Ferrari and McLaren, endorsed the decision to come to Bahrain amid a political crisis, and the FIA, the governing body of world motor sports, gave the OK to race on Sunday. It said the Bahrain GP should proceed "following assurances from the local promoter and the authorities that security, their responsibility, will be guaranteed for all participants."
"The FIA and FOM also strongly believe that sport can often be a force for good and that the staging of the grand prix in Bahrain will come some way in helping soothe some of the issues which have been raised in the media," the FIA said in a statement.
Formula One Boss Bernie Eccelstone scoffed at reports of trouble, telling reporters "you guys are the ones who write about the rubbish. Have you found any?"
"Looks all right, doesn t it?" he said. "I think anyone who really wants to see and talk about human rights should go to Syria, maybe. There are plenty of places in the world like Egypt where they got rid of dictators and put democracy in. Since then, there has been more trouble."
