Rosberg fastest in practice

Nico Rosberg was fastest in practice at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, with teammate Michael Schumacher finishing third to put Mercedes at the front of the Formula One grid.

Rosberg set a quickest time of 1 minute, 55.409 seconds to lead Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and Schumacher by just under half a second after two sessions.

Defending champion Jenson Button was fourth for McLaren, ahead of Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, who was just over 1 second off Rosberg's pace.

Felipe Massa finished 1.1 seconds behind and Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso was 1.3 seconds back.

Practice continues Saturday before qualifying for Sunday's season-opening race.