Welcome back to ESPNF1's live coverage of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. Next up we've got second practice, which will see the drivers on track for another 90 minutes as the sun sets over the Yas Marina circuit.

Jenson Button was the fastest man in the morning session but it looks close between McLaren and Red Bull at the top. The general feeling is that we've yet to see the best from world champion Sebastian Vettel as he was fourth fastest and 0.492s off the pace.

In FP1 the drivers set their best times on Pirelli's development tyre, which will form the basis of next year's soft compound but won't be used over Saturday and Sunday this weekend. In this session we'll see them on the 2011-spec soft compound tyre and those will be the times to pay attention to when trying to get a picture of how this weekend will work out.

As always, feel free to get in touch with any questions or comments during the session. We'll do our best to answer as many as we can.

The Yas Marina circuit is looking as spectacular as ever this weekend, but we're just hoping it can offer up some spectacular racing on Sunday.

© Sutton Images

The fastest time we saw in FP1 was a 1:40.263, which is already faster than the best Friday practice time from last year - a 1:40.888 set by Vettel.

Vineet asks: "How much is there to play for and what are the interesting places on the track where overtaking will be fun?"

Well, there's less to play for this year than last year as Vettel and Red Bull already have the drivers' and constructors' title sewn up. The teams definitely have their focus on next year but that doesn't alter their desire to win. Lewis Hamilton desperately wants another win before the end of the season, so he's one to watch this weekend. There's also a lot to play for further down the order, with Renault, Force India, Toro Rosso and Sauber all dicing for positions in the constructors' championship.

The best places for overtaking are at the end of the two back straights where the DRS overtaking aid will be available to the drivers. Last year we saw drivers getting close in those corners but not quite able to pull it off. The DRS should make the difference this weekend.

Shane asks: "Do you think we can expect Michael's form to be very strong again this weekend & what impact do you feel Michael's turn in form since Belgium has had on Nico?"

Schumacher has scored 38 points since Belgium whereas Rosberg has scored 27. Typically, Schumacher and Mercedes have been stronger at high-speed circuits so he might struggle a bit through the final sector here. But Mercedes definitely has the fourth fastest car in terms of race pace and we can expect Schumacher to be aiming for seventh place and upwards this weekend. Rosberg is happy at Mercedes - he's just extended his contract as proof - but he will be feeling a little extra pressure of late. He still has the edge in qualifying but race pace is now less clear cut. Only five points separate them now so it's going to be a thrilling battle to the end of the season.

Senna leads the cars out for the start of second practice. The sun is low in the sky so it's tinted visors all round.

Just to keep you up to date, Senna is back in at Renault for Grosjean, Buemi at Toro Rosso for Vergne and D'Ambrosio regains his Virgin from Wickens after FP1.

While the cars are getting back up to speed, I'll take on another question...

Michael asks: "What is the feedback you're getting about race aids like KERS and DRS down at the track? from both spectators and teams. I'm on the fence with this technology at the moment."

I think DRS is the contentious one. The teams seem to like it, especially the front runners, as it allows them to overtake slower cars when they would otherwise find themselves out of position. You can't argue that it hasn't increased the chances of overtaking, the only question is whether it has detracted from the quality of racing. I would argue that overtaking was far too easy in Turkey and Spa and that ruined some good battles. However, at other circuits it has really livened up the action and it is also thrilling to watch drivers use it in qualifying. KERS adds a tactical element that I think works quite well and it can be used to both attack and defend. If anybody else has a view on KERS and DRS please get in touch.

Webber and Vettel have gone to the top of the timing screens on the experimental soft tyres. Webber's best is a 1:40.723 which is still someway off Button's best this morning.

Hamilton is out on the medium tyres for the start of this session. He's clearly pushing quite hard, with a little lock-up into turn 11, but the harder compound won't allow him to match the Red Bulls' pace.

Vineet asks: "India too had 2 DRS zones. But still overtaking was a problem . Why do you think that was?"

It was very dusty off line so that made it difficult for drivers to find grip as they moved to overtake. The fact that the tyre compounds were holding up very well didn't help either as we didn't see drivers suffering with low grip like we have at some circuits this year. But in Pirelli's defence, they had to go conservative with their selection as they didn't have much data on the circuit before FP1.

Vettel has popped up at the top of the timing screens with the fastest time of the weekend so far. His 1:40.197 is 0.401s faster than Webber.

Massa's front wing has got the wobbles again. Those that watched the Indian GP will remember it oscillating at high speeds and we're seeing the same here as sparks come off the endplates. Ferrari's technical director said he's found a fix ahead of the weekend, but clearly there's still an issue.

Alonso's Ferrari is working well as he sets the second fastest time with a 1:40.469 on soft tyres.

Sutil's lap of a 1:40.951 is also worth a mention as it's just 0.754s off the pace of Vettel. He's looked strong all day and Force India is expecting its car to suit this track.

Pirelli says: "The P Zero Yellow tyre here is expected to last for around 20 laps, from what we can see so far."

Akshay says: "Reports suggest that Sutil won't get a drive in Force India in 2012...but I dont seem to understand that. He is fast, experienced, scoring consistently, brings in some money..so why him?"

It's a very good question and one that only Vijay Mallya can answer. He's still in with a chance of a drive as nothing has been announced yet and clearly Force India is weighing up its options. The only reason I can see is that he's 28 while Hulkenberg is 24 and di Resta 25, but I tend to agree that he deserves to keep his seat.

Alonso has clocked the fastest time and returned to the pits. His best was a 1:40.141, 0.056s up on Vettel.

Schumacher is struggling to slow his car for the chicanes at the moment. He's just gone straight on at turn eight and a replay shows that he barely attempted to make it. Alonso was doing a similar thing in FP1.

Ferrari is changing Massa's front wing after it was fluttering on his last run.

Pirelli confirms that Alonso set his time on the development tyres, not the softs that will be used this weekend: "Alonso is on the experimental soft tyre, setting a time of 1m40.141s to go quickest so far. The track is cleaner and temperatures are lower."

Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell which softs are which as they both carry identical yellow markings. However, it's safe to assume that the teams will save their non-experimental tyres for a run towards the final 30 minutes of this session - as they have done at every Friday afternoon session this year.

Vettel has set a fastest first sector ... but has lost 0.3s to Alonso in sector two.

Hamilton is currently 0.8s off the pace but is on the medium compound tyres.

Massa's new wing is still spraying sparks along the back straight as it flaps up and down.

Webber, who has been pushing hard on the last few lap, has just had a little spin at turn 13. He keeps it well clear of the barriers and carries on.

Alonso is pushing his Ferrari to within centimetres of the barriers in sector three and it's clearly paying off as he sets an even faster time with a 1:39.971.

Pirelli confirms that Alonso is still on the experimental tyres: "Fernando Alonso sets a new fastest time on the experimental soft. Less than an hour to go now and all the lights are on!"

But Alonso's Ferrari looks as though it's on a knife-edge with the rear-end stepping out without much provocation.

Schumacher's setting a reasonable pace at the moment, fifth fastest and 0.746 off Alonso. But I can't help but think Red Bull and McLaren still have a fair bit of lap time left in reserve if they want to use it.

Pirelli's Paul Hembery: "The race this weekend should be mostly on the soft tyre. I reckon we're looking mostly at two stops."

Button is out on soft tyres so maybe we'll get a better picture of McLaren's pace now.

Button just edges out Alonso by 0.001s on his first lap back on the softs, but Hamilton is even quicker and sets a new fastest lap by 0.384s with a 1:39.586.

Button improves on his first and second sectors but it's still not enough to beat team-mate Hamilton, he's 0.199s off.

Vettel is off at turn one. He lost the rear and has hit the wall. It's a very forgiving TecPro barrier so he won't have done too much damage.

He lost the rear as he turned in with two wheels on the entrance kerb. He's had to get out of the car but they should be able to get it back to the pits without a problem. It's a similar accident to Massa's in FP1.

Vettel's still down at turn one watching the action, maybe he's not quite ready to go and face his team yet...

Massa's wing appears to be flapping less on this lap but still a few sparks at the end of the straight and through the high-speed sector one as he runs onto the kerbs.

Manjunath says: "Hamilton can take the victory this weekend"

Massa is told that he's stopping the car too much into corners 18 and 20 towards the end of the lap. The message appears to have done the trick as he gets to within a tenth of Alonso.

Alonso is off a turn one too! He's hit the barriers a bit harder than Vettel and a bit further along. He's out of the car and absolutely fine, but the car went in backwards and the suspension is damaged. That's definitely the end of his session. He looks pretty angry and is keeping his helmet on as he marches straight back to the pits.

Very unusual to see two double world champions have similar accidents at the same corner in the same session.

Meanwhile, Hamilton is pressing on in the McLaren as he heads back out on soft tyres. Button is also out there, but judging by the sector times they are on heavier fuel loads than they were earlier.

Vettel is back in the car and ready to go back out. No major damage to his Red Bull.

All the cars except Liuzzi are out on track at the moment.

Just ten minutes remaining in this session as some final checks are made to Vettel's car before he heads back out.

Medium tyres for Vettel as he heads back out on track.

All the drivers appear to be working on longer runs now as the times have gone up.

That means Hamilton's time looks pretty safe at the top of the timesheets.

According to Renault, Petrov is going to give it one last push: "VP looking to better his current position-P13"

The chequered flag is out. All the cars bar Alonso will complete the laps they are on and then return to the pits. No signs of any improvements in the sector times.

So, Hamilton leads the way after second practice with a time 0.199s faster than team-mate Button. Alonso was thrid, 0.385s off Hamilton and Massa was fourth. Webber was the highest-placed Red Bull in fifth, just ahead of Vettel in sixth.

Thank you for joining us for the session. We'll be back tomorrow with more action from FP3 and qualifying, but don't forget to keep checking the website for all the latest news from the track this evening.