Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) est le plus rapide de la 2e séance d’essais libres du vendredi à Abou Dhabi. Jenson Button (McLaren) est 2e. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) et Felipe Massa (Ferrari) sont respectivement 3e et 4e. Mark Webber (Red Bull) précède Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) en 5e place. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) est 7e, Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) est 20e.
| 1 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.586 | 31 | |
| 2 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.785 | 0.199 | 30 |
| 3 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:39.971 | 0.385 | 20 |
| 4 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:39.980 | 0.394 | 34 |
| 5 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:40.104 | 0.518 | 35 |
| 6 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:40.132 | 0.546 | 26 |
| 7 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:40.553 | 0.967 | 34 |
| 8 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:40.951 | 1.365 | 34 |
| 9 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:41.021 | 1.435 | 37 |
| 10 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:41.490 | 1.904 | 34 |
| 11 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:41.565 | 1.979 | 34 |
| 12 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:41.680 | 2.094 | 33 |
| 13 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:41.947 | 2.361 | 31 |
| 14 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:41.983 | 2.397 | 34 |
| 15 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1:42.369 | 2.783 | 36 |
| 16 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:42.798 | 3.212 | 35 |
| 17 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:42.910 | 3.324 | 34 |
| 18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:43.562 | 3.976 | 36 |
| 19 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1:44.050 | 4.464 | 38 |
| 20 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:44.265 | 4.679 | 41 |
| 21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:45.486 | 5.900 | 34 |
| 22 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:46.142 | 6.556 | 32 |
| 23 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1:46.249 | 6.663 | 21 |
| 24 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1:46.328 | 6.742 | 34 |