Nico Rosberg managed to split the Ferrari and McLaren drivers on the opening day in Bahrain.
The German was 'best of the rest' after Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen in the opening session, on a 1 minute 32.415 seconds, which was just two tenths of a second off the pace.
While he was unable to improve in the afternoon and ended the second session in sixth, on a 1m 33.022s, he was still third overall on the combined time sheets, ahead of both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen - and the rest.
"I am happier with the car here compared to the last race in Malaysia and I think we are back to normal now, which is encouraging," he reflected.
"The circuit surface suits our car better, which in turn made it much more enjoyable to drive. Over the two sessions we made some very big set-up changes and I think we've gone into the right direction.
"It's getting very close with a lot of people in the midfield, but I think we have a good chance to do well this weekend. It was also productive to be reliable today which meant plenty of track time."
Kazuki Nakajima meanwhile also went pretty well in the sister Toyota-powered FW30, ending FP1 in sixth and FP2 in eighth, his best effort for the day a 1m 33.098 seconds.
"Today we didn't have any problems, so we could use all of the practice time which was great," he continued.
"Initially in the morning session, I struggled a bit, but in the afternoon, we made a big set-up change which was very positive. We have a bit more work to do tomorrow, but it is a good start."
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The German was 'best of the rest' after Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen in the opening session, on a 1 minute 32.415 seconds, which was just two tenths of a second off the pace.
While he was unable to improve in the afternoon and ended the second session in sixth, on a 1m 33.022s, he was still third overall on the combined time sheets, ahead of both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen - and the rest.
"I am happier with the car here compared to the last race in Malaysia and I think we are back to normal now, which is encouraging," he reflected.
"The circuit surface suits our car better, which in turn made it much more enjoyable to drive. Over the two sessions we made some very big set-up changes and I think we've gone into the right direction.
"It's getting very close with a lot of people in the midfield, but I think we have a good chance to do well this weekend. It was also productive to be reliable today which meant plenty of track time."
Kazuki Nakajima meanwhile also went pretty well in the sister Toyota-powered FW30, ending FP1 in sixth and FP2 in eighth, his best effort for the day a 1m 33.098 seconds.
"Today we didn't have any problems, so we could use all of the practice time which was great," he continued.
"Initially in the morning session, I struggled a bit, but in the afternoon, we made a big set-up change which was very positive. We have a bit more work to do tomorrow, but it is a good start."
crash.net