Perez impresses as Rosberg tops P2 in Abu Dhabi

Sergio Perez led the fight to Mercedes in FP2 ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as the Force India driver clocked the third fastest time on Friday.

The Mexican driver had finished eighth fastest in P1 earlier in the day, but was able to find more speed in the second 90-minute session as he finished ahead of both Ferraris and Red Bulls.

Ahead of the weekend Perez had spoken positively about his chances at the final race of the 2015 season, and he showed why as his fastest lap saw him 0.627secs adrift of Nico Rosberg.

The German hit back at team-mate Lewis Hamilton as he found a little bit extra to record the quickest time of one minute 41.983 seconds.

Hamilton had eclipsed his Mercedes team-mate in the first outing of the weekend in the United Arab Emirates, but he was unable to replicate that as Rosberg topped the timesheets by 0.138secs.

Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel completed the top five, while there was some encouragement for McLaren as Fernando Alonso finished inside the top 10.

1.    Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:41.983secs 2.    Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:41.121s 3.    Sergio Perez (Force India) 1:42.610s 4.    Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1:42.647s 5.    Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:42.717s 6.    Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) 1:42.798s 7.    Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:42.849s 8.    Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) 1:42.928s 9.    Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 1:42.955s 10.  Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) 1:43.431s