McLaren Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton racing around the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi [Picture courtesy of www.mclaren.com]

FORMULA 1 star Lewis Hamilton set the pace in second free practice for the 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 driver from Hertfordshire was the man to beat in the second session around the Yas Marina Circuit today (Friday).

Tewin race ace Hamilton, 26, topped the timesheets in P2 with a lap time of 1m 39.586s – the quickest of the day.

That placed him 0.199 seconds in front of McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, who had earlier gone fastest in first practice on a 1m 40.263s.

Button clocked 1m 39.785s in second practice, with the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso third-fastest on a 1m 39.971s.

Lewis Hamilton driving around the futuristic Yas Marina Circuit ahead of the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix [Picture courtesy of www.mclaren.com]

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was fourth ahead of the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher, Force India pair Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta and Sauber man Kamui Kobayashi were also in the top 10.

Alonso and Vettel both crashed during P2 at Turn One of the Yas Marina track.

Qualifying for the sport’s day-night race takes place from 1pm GMT tomorrow (Saturday).

The 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix starts at 1pm on Sunday.