The McLaren driver, who needs a miracle to win this weekend in order to win his second Drivers' title, clocked a 1:40.888 to take the P1 slot in Friday's second practice.However, the Brit was by no means heads and shoulders above his rivals.
Sebastian Vettel finished in second place, 0.257s off the pace, while Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber were next in line, also within half a second of Hamilton's P1 time.
Robert Kubica was the best of the rest, with Felipe Massa, Vitaly Petrov and Jenson Button lining up behind him.
Report: Dusk was setting in as Friday's second practice got underway on a bone-dry Yas Marina circuit. Nick Heidfeld, Lucas di Grassi and Christian Klien led out the pack for the standard installation laps, all three staying out to post their first times with Heidfeld quickest with a 1:45.314.
Completely opposite to today's earlier session, the drivers were quick to get down to work with Lewis Hamilton the next in the P1 slot. His team-mate Jenson Button was second in an early McLaren 1-2. Button went on to overhaul Hamilton before both McLaren's lost out to Fernando Alonso with a 1:42.474. Michael Schumacher went fourth quickest.
Hamilton returned to the front, eight-tenths up on Alonso while the Red Bull duo, the other two drivers in the title race, remained in their garages. Alonso retook the P1 slot with Felipe Massa sliding into third in all Ferrari/McLaren top four. Mark Webber went fifth and Sebastian Vettel sixth. Webber improved to third before losing out to Robert Kubica.
There were a couple of drivers running a bit wide at the final corner as the lighting system took over from the natural daylight and the temperature began to cool a few degrees. Lap after lap, the drivers got down to business, perfecting their cars in preparation for qualifying and Sunday's grand prix.
Webber improved to second, 0.086s behind Alonso, while Hamilton had a flying lap ruined by the pitting Senna. The stewards are set to look into the after the session. Vettel was the next to challenge Alonso but fell 0.070s short before Hamilton finally pulled it off, a 1:41.213 for the McLaren driver.
Bad news for Jaime Alguersuari - he lost control of his Toro Rosso at Turn 19, spun and stalled. Game over for the Spaniard. Felipe Massa joined Alguersuari on the sidelines when his Ferrari came to a halt on the side of the track. It was later revealed that his Ferrari ran out of fuel.
The final ten minutes saw a flurry of activity as the entire field ventured out for their final run of the day. However, none of the top ten were able to improve their times.
Times
01. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m40.888s
02. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m41.145s + 0.257
03. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m41.314s + 0.426
04. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m41.315s + 0.427
05. Robert Kubica Renault 1m41.576s + 0.688
06. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m41.583s + 0.695
07. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m42.096s + 1.208
08. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m42.132s + 1.244
09. Tonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1m42.203s + 1.315
10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m42.222s + 1.334
11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m42.246s + 1.358
12. Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1m42.449s + 1.561
13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m42.535s + 1.647
14. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.768s + 1.880
15. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m42.914s + 2.026
16. Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.950s + 2.062
17. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m43.128s + 2.240
18. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m43.584s + 2.696
19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1m45.180s + 4.292
20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m45.259s + 4.371
21. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1m45.612s + 4.724
22. Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1m46.053s + 5.165
23. Christian Klien Hispania-Cosworth 1m47.210s + 6.322
24. Bruno Senna Hispania-Cosworth 1m47.434s + 6.546
Source: Planet-F1
