Hamilton fastest under the floodlights

The second practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, final round of the 2010 season, was held in much better – and more usual – conditions than this morning’s session.

The drivers quickly left the pits as they were keen to get some running and make up for the time lost earlier in the afternoon when they spent half the session in their garages waiting for the track to dry completely.

Fernando Alonso took charge at the front with his first flying lap of the evening. He was soon challenged by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and both of them traded fastest times while the Red Bull drivers bided their time.

Fifteen minutes in, Mark Webber joined the action and moved up to P6 with his first timed lap. Seconds later, Sebastian Vettel jumped from dead last to 15th place. Both of them slightly improved and were third and sixth fastest at the end of their first run.

As the night fell on the Yas Marina circuit, Alonso and Hamilton rejoined the track for a second run of laps. They found no significant improvement, whereas Webber and Vettel moved up some places. The Australian jumped up to P2, only to be relegated to P3 by his teammate. Both were just a few hundredths of a second shy of Alonso’s mark.

With thirty minutes remaining, soft tyres made their appearance on track. Hamilton made good use of them to take over at the front with a 1’41’’213.

At the same time, Jaime Alguersuari spun at Turn 19 and couldn’t rejoin the track. Felipe Massa’s session also ended prematurely, with twenty minutes remaining. He pulled to a halt on the second long straight.

Vettel’s run on the softer tyre saw him retake P2 behind Lewis Hamilton.

That was it for this second 90-minute practice session of the weekend and Lewis Hamilton ended the day on top. Vettel was 2nd fastest with Alonso 3rd fastest. Webber and Kubica completed the top five.

Massa held onto sixth place. Petrov was up in 7th place for Renault with Button trailing him by a few hundredths of a second. Liuzzi and Rosberg completed the top ten.