Nico Rosberg maintained the status quo for Mercedes by setting the fastest lap in Saturday mornings final practice session at Sakhir, but this time the Red Bulls weren’t far behind. The Chinese Grand Prix winner lapped in 1m 33.254s, a time which Sebastian Vettel failed to beat by just 0.147s as he went round in 1m 33.401s

After a slippery first session teams spent the afternoon dialling in their cars, but the work was further complicated for some by a change of wind direction. All teams received one message loud and clear: rear tyre conservation will be paramount in the race.

Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull RB8 he calls ‘Abbey’ are slowly but steadily raising their game. The relationship may be taking a bit longer to blossom than in previous years, but perhaps that’s good in the long term

Seeing seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher on top of his game again – even if it was team mate Nico Rosberg who scored Mercedes’ big win in China – is still a massive story in Formula One racing. And watching the legend live on in a ‘Silver Arrow’ is almost too good to be true. We caught up with Schumacher in Bahrain to talk about his team’s 2012 breakthrough

Nico Rosberg picked up where he left off in China by dominating second practice in Bahrain on Friday, lapping his Mercedes 0.446s faster than Mark Webber’s Red Bull and 0.709s faster than Sebastian Vettel’s sister car.

Those two old sparring partners McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa come to Bahrain with different mind sets at different stages of their world championship campaigns. 2008 world champion Hamilton seems chilled and calm after his third podium place of the season in China moved him to the head of the points table

Nothing ever lasts forever. In the case of success, 2012 has proved that for Red Bull. But for now at least, it seems to be Mark Webber rather than world champion team mate Sebastian Vettel that is making the best of a bad situation.

Winning a race is one thing, dominating is another. And to win at your 111th attempt sounds like a near miracle

On the track, Bahrain is going to be all about tyre wear, as this is a tight circuit which places a high premium on tyre performance and conservation, and where the surface offline is always dirty thanks to the sandy environment.

Neither Lewis Hamilton nor Jenson Button will take part in next month’s in-season group test at Mugello, McLaren have revealed. Instead the championship leaders are to field test drivers Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey. The three-day session at the Italian circuit, which all 12 teams are expected to attend, has been added to this year’s official test schedule