With the second Friday practice session at the Yas Marina circuit commencing at 5PM the session would be run under dusk to night time conditions. Nico and Kazuki Nakajima finished the opening Friday session in thirteenth and fourteenth so both drivers would be looking to improve. It was expected that the softer tyre would be used in the cooler conditions. First out would be Alguersuari joined by several other drivers including Nico and Kazuki. Several drivers would continue on second installation laps but Nico would be the first driver to set a time with a 1m:47.576 on the medium tyre. Vettel was second from Alguersuari, Kazuki, Grosjean, Buemi, and Heidfeld. The session was very busy early on with Button now fastest with a 1m:47.116.

Kubica was now third from Sutil but it would be Alguersuari who went fastest with a 1m:46.351. He was passed by team-mate Buemi with a 1m:46.092. Only Webber and Liuzzi were in their pits as Kovalainen moved into third from Heidfeld. Kubica was now fastest with a 1m:45.176. But it was all changing rapidly as Nico went fastest with a 1m:45.172. He too was passed by Buemi with a time of 1m:44.582. Kovalainen was now fastest with a 1m:44.435, from Buemi, Nico, and Vettel. Kubica again improved with a 1m:44.274.

Both Williams drivers had pitted with ten minutes of the session run. Webber was also in the pits having not set a time. As drivers improved Nico and Kazuki dropped to tenth and fifteenth. Hamilton would improve to be fastest with a 1m:43.664 from Kubica and Kovalainen. Kazuki would complain about the balance of his car been affected by the wind direction. Buemi was now second but Kovalainen would push Hamilton and Buemi down the order as he again went fastest with a 1m:43.601.

But team-mate Hamilton was again fastest with a time of 1m:42.942. Buemi was now third from Alguersuari, Kubica, and Barrichello. Button was now third, 1m:43.293, with Nico and Kazuki now thirteenth and nineteenth. Sutil would have a major lockup going into Turn eight ruining a set of tyres. Buemi was now fastest with a 1m:42.729. Webber would finally get back out on the track.

Buemi would again improve with a 1m:42.526 while Hamilton and Button had pitted. Alguersuari was fifth from Barrichello, Kubica, Trulli, and Alonso. But Kobayashi was now fourth, 1m:43.377, but Alguersuari was able to move into fourth. Both Nico and Kazuki had returned to the track, currently in seventeenth and twentieth. Kazuki was on a better lap and would improve to be twelfth, 1m:44.282. Barrichello was now third from Kobayashi. Trulli was now fourth as the lights started to play their role. Kazuki would improve to be tenth while Nico was up to twelfth. Kobayashi was now third, 1m:43.014 while Button and Webber were sixth and seventh.

Kazuki was ahead of Nico with Nico dropping to thirteenth. Raikkonen was slowest with team-mate Fisichella one place ahead. Kazuki would put in another quick lap with a 1m:43.178 to be sixth. Webber would improve to be fourth, 1m:43.019, using the softer tyre. Button was also on the softer tyre as team-mate Barrichello went fifth. Kazuki would drop to be ninth as other drivers improved. Vettel was now second but Button would take this spot with a 1m:42.669. Buemi was still fastest with a time of 1m:42.143. Vettel was third from Hamilton, Webber, Kobayashi, Barrichello, Trulli, and Kazuki in tenth. Hamilton had improved with a 1m:42.530 to be second. His next lap would see him go faster with a 1m,:41.843 to be fastest.

Kazuki had pitted joining Nico. Kovalainen would move up to second with a 1m:41.660. Team-mate Hamilton would improve his quickest time with a 1m:41.564. Raikkonen and Fisichella were up to eighth and tenth. Nico and Kazuki had returned to the track with forty five minutes left in the session. Nico was up to eleventh and thirteenth. Kubica had stopped at Turn seven with smoke coming from his engine. It was an engine failure for the BMW driver with Kubica running a very old engine. Nico would improve with a 1m:42.741 to be eighth, but Kazuki was still down in thirteenth. The top four drivers were in their pits as more drivers tried out the softer tyre. Nico was now sixth, 1m:42.409, as he was finding more time from his FW31.

Webber would also improve to take sixth from Nico with a time of 1m:42.399. With thirty five minutes remaining Hamilton was still fastest from Kovalainen, Buemi, Barrichello, Vettel, Webber, Nico, Button, Raikkonen, and Kobayashi in tenth. Both Nico and Kazuki had pitted while Webber moved into fifth, 1m:41.851. He was still using the harder tyre and was now fourth. Team-mate Vettel was now in fifth but would find some time to be second with a 1m:41.591. The circuit was now bathed in artificial light as Vettel pitted. Nico and Kazuki were now back on the track with Nico now in ninth and Kazuki a disappointing sixteenth. Webber had also pitted.

There was just over twenty one minutes remaining in the session as Kazuki improved to be thirteenth with a 1m:42.618. Hamilton was now on the softer tyre and would improve his time with a 1m:41.504. He would pit while Kobayashi was now up to seventh, 1m:41.984, using the softer tyre. His next lap would see him move up to third, 1m:41.636 pushing Kovalainen down to fourth. Kazuki was up to ninth, 1m:42.245, and had pitted. Nico was one place behind in tenth. Nico was also improve with a 1m:41.931 to be eighth. Kazuki was now tenth with thirteen minutes left in the session. Nico would pit joining many others as they prepared for their final laps in the session.

With ten minutes left drivers started to return to the track but Nico and Kazuki were still in their pits. Nico had a weight distribution change making the car more stable but acceleration had been affected. Nico was back out with seven and a half minutes remaining, joined by Kazuki. With the softer tyre been used Button was up to fifth, 1m:41.666, while Nico and Kazuki were ninth and tenth. There was only a handful of drivers not on the track, one of those being Hamilton. Raikkonen was on a quick lap but with a 1m:42.280 was only able to improve to twelfth. He was able to split the Williams drives moving into tenth. Button was now second with just minutes remaining, 1m:41.541. Hamilton had retuned to the track as both Vettel and Kovalainen were on quick laps. Kovalainen was now fastest with a 1m:41.307 from Hamilton, Button, Vettel, Kobayashi, Buemi, Webber, Barrichello, Nico, Sutil, Raikkonen, and Kazuki in twelfth.

With the end of the session Nico and Kazuki were in ninth and twelfth with both drivers certainly having improved their times compared to the fastest cars. A promising start to the weekend for the AT&T Williams team as the drivers were allowed to carry out practice starts on the start grid.

Pos  Driver	  Team			     Time     Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.307  35
 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.504  34
 3.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.541  39
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.591  37
 5.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:41.636  34
 6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:41.683  37
 7.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.684  34
 8.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.831  38
 9.  Rosberg      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:41.931  39
10.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:41.987  39
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.180  28
12.  Nakajima     AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:42.245  36
13.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:42.278  36
14.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:42.409  30
15.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.530  33
16.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:42.782  29
17.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:42.932  37
18.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:43.021  37
19.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:43.022  39
20.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:43.708  13