Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton won’t take part in next week’s Pirelli test in Abu Dhabi, despite it being the only chance to try the new tyres before next year.
Most top teams are using their regular drivers, some of whom insisted on being there. However Button says that the Pirellis will change before next season.
“I wanted to do the test,” he said. “But the team said we don’t think it’s the right time for you to be testing the tyre, because it’s going to change a lot. And it’s not through driver comment, it’s just the tyre will change a lot before we can properly do some testing with the new car and get some useful information from a race driver’s point of view.”
Gary Paffett and GP2 driver Oliver Turvey are on hand for McLaren this week.
Meanwhile Pirelli continued its testing this week in Paul Ricard, where Pedro de la Rosa ran wet tyres on an artificially soaked track.
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
I think they may come to regret this. They should cover the bases even if this test comes to nothing.
Its a surprise that Button isn’t doing it, considering that along with Massa and Schumacher, he has had problems with the tyres this year.