Nico Rosberg was quickest in second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Ferrari was challenged by Force India and Red Bull.
After Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the opening practice session, Rosberg responded with the quickest time of FP2 by posting a 1:41.983, leaving him 0.138s clear of his Mercedes team-mate. While Kimi Raikkonen had been the closest challenger to Mercedes in FP1, Sergio Perez set an impressive time for Force India to go third on a 1:42.610.
Perez was aided by Force India opting to run the supersoft tyre later in the session than Ferrari, but with FP2 the only representative session - starting at the same time as qualifying and the race - it was an encouraging result for the team which has already secured fifth in the constructors' championship.
Fourth fastest was Daniel Ricciardo for Red Bull ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Daniil Kvyat and Raikkonen in seventh. The five cars behind the Mercedes pair were covered by 0.239s, with Nico Hulkenberg in eighth place and Fernando Alonso in ninth 0.1s further back.
Alonso's lap time was encouraging for McLaren, leaving him within a second of Rosberg's fastest time. Team-mate Jenson Button was two seconds off the pace, however, leaving him down in 16th place. There was also more than a second between the Sauber drivers in 17th and 18th, with Marcus Ericsson slower than Felipe Nasr having not set a quicker time on the supersoft tyre.
While the end result saw it dropping back compared to its positions in FP1, Ferrari opted to run earlier on the supersoft tyre in order to focus on its race pace. The teams only having FP2 to set the cars up for the race in similar conditions to Sunday as the final hour-long practice session will take place in higher temperatures early in the afternoon.
One driver to miss out on some of that running was Carlos Sainz who stopped at the hairpin with half an hour remaining, limiting him to a total of 20 laps. Perez also appeared to suffer an issue as he was seen crawling back to the pits with 20 minutes to run and didn't return to the track.
AS IT HAPPENED: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix FP2
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Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:41.983 | 39 |
02 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:42.121 | 31 |
03 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:42.610 | 23 |
04 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:42.647 | 37 |
05 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:42.717 | 35 |
06 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:42.798 | 34 |
07 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:42.849 | 36 |
08 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:42.928 | 35 |
09 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:42.955 | 31 |
10 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:43.431 | 37 |
11 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:43.441 | 32 |
12 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:43.506 | 33 |
13 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:43.662 | 40 |
14 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:43.854 | 20 |
15 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:43.929 | 27 |
16 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:44.050 | 32 |
17 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:44.116 | 37 |
18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:45.245 | 28 |
19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:46.450 | 35 |
20 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1:47.022 | 27 |
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