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Lewis Hamilton will not be in action at next week's Mugello test after McLaren confirmed they were sticking to their original plan to run their test drivers across the three days.



The Woking squad announced last week that British pair Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey would share the workload with the MP4-27 at the test circuit in Tuscany, with race drivers Hamilton and Jenson Button not back in the car until the following week's Spanish Grand Prix.

However, in light of a disappointing Bahrain GP for the team last weekend, Hamilton suggested they might need to change their Mugello plans, saying: "I need to get back in the car. We need to figure out why the tyres are going off."

McLaren have, however, on Friday confirmed to skysports.com/formula1 that the 2008 World Champion will still not be in attendance at the test, with therefore Paffett and Turvey running as planned in the MP4-27.

The pair will share driving duties on Tuesday's opening day, with 25-year-old Turvey in the car in the morning before his elder compatriot takes over in the afternoon.

DTM veteran Paffett will then have the race-winning challenger to himself on Wednesday, before Turvey wraps up the week on Thursday.

Although Hamilton appeared keen to get back behind the wheel before the first race of the European season, team-mate Button said he was happy for McLaren's test drivers to carry out the development work.

"The reason why we're not there is because we've never been to Mugello before," Button said.

"I don't really think we will be a benefit because there aren't any massive updates to try.

"For the test drivers to put some miles on parts and try some very extreme things, then I think it's good, but it's not necessary for us to be there."