No McLaren race drivers for first Pirelli test

McLaren will be the only top team not deploying at least one of its race drivers for next week’s first Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi.

"I wanted to do the test, but the team said ’really we don’t think it’s the right time for you to be testing the tyres because they’re going to change a lot’," Jenson Button told reporters at the Yas Marina circuit on Thursday.

Button said McLaren’s first "serious testing" with the 2011 tyres will therefore occur only after the MP4-25’s successor is launched.

Lewis Hamilton will also not be testing on 19-20 November, with Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey to drive the 2010 car instead. Petrov and Webber will also miss the test.