Nico Rosberg gave the rebranded Mercedes GP a boost ahead of the start of the Brackley squad’s title defence this weekend by topping the afternoon practice times on the opening day of the 2010 season in Bahrain.

The young German has been overshadowed in the build-up to the campaign by the return of illustrious team-mate Michael Schumacher to Formula 1 – but Rosberg appeared to show on Friday that he has no intention of playing second fiddle to the legend by outpacing the 41-year-old in both sessions.

Rosberg’s second session best of 1m55.049s put him over four tenths ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton at the top of the charts, although Schumacher was not far behind after seeming to find a set-up on the W01 more to his liking as he moved up to third. ITV

Jaime Alguesuari set the first time of the day at 2:02.757. However, he was quickly overhauled by both Ferrari drivers, Tonio Liuzzi and Jenson Button, who went quickest with a 1:56.944.

Button’s reign was short-lived as Nico Hulkenberg went quickest only to lose out to Hamilton moments later. The Brit clocked a 1:56.051, the quickest time seen at Bahrain on Friday, while Rubens Barrichello took fourth place with the two Force inida’s behind him.

Sebastian Vettel, tipped to become the 2010 world champ by Bernie Ecclestone, improved to sixth place, slotting in between the two Williams drivers while Vitaly Petrov put his Renault up into tenth. SkySport

Vitaly Petrov was Renault’s better runner in eighth on 1m 56.750s, while Fernando Alonso took ninth in 1m 57.140s and Pedro de la Rosa gave Peter Sauber cause to smile with 1m 57.255s for 10th. Kamui Kobayashi backed his team mate with 1m 57.352s for 11th.

Adrian Sutil focused on high-fuel runs for Force India for the 12th best time of 1m 57.361s, which left him ahead of Rubens Barrichello (1m 57.452s) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (1m 57.833s).

Robert Kubica was 15th for Renault on 1m 58.155s, with a gap to Jaime Alguersuari who was Toro Rosso’s faster driver after Sebastien Buemi only did a lap before losing the rest of the session to mechanical gremlins.

The Spaniard had a lucky escape when he spun in Turn 13 and just avoided backing his STR5 into a barrier. Mark Webber was another to concentrate on high fuel-load runs, lapping his Red Bull in 2m 00.444s for 17th. Formula 1