McLaren remained top of the pile after the second practice session here under the lights in Yas Marina on Friday. Heikki Kovalainen just pipped team mate Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages, 1m 41.307s to 1m 41.504s, while Brawn GP’s Jenson Button and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel nipped at their feet with 1m 41.541s and 1m 41.591s respectively.

The surprise of the evening was the speed of Toyota’s rookie, Kamui Kobayashi, who lapped his TF109 fifth fastest in 1m 41.636s to head Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi on 1m 41.683s, Red Bull’s Mark Webber on 1m 41.684s, Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello on 1m 41.831s, Williams’ Nico Rosberg on 1m 41.931s and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen on 1m 41.987s.

Adrian Sutil was 11th for Force India on 1m 42.180s, then came Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima on 1m 42.245s, BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld on 1m 42.278s, Toyota’s Jarno Trulli on 1m 42.409s, Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi on 1m 42.530s, Renault’s Fernando Alonso on 1m 42.782s and Ferrari’s Giancarlo Fisichella on 1m 42.932s.

Romain Grosjean was 18th in the second Renault on 1m 43.021s, just beating Jaime Alguersuari’s 1m 43.022s in the Toro Rosso and Robert Kubica’s 1m 43.708s, set before the Pole’s BMW Sauber consumed another engine.

This time there were several incidents as drivers pushed the limits. Alonso, Kovalainen, Sutil, Liuzzi, Raikkonen, Hamilton and Kobayashi all explored the run-off areas, though nobody did any serious damage.