Force India has confirmed that it will skip the Jerez test completely, and focus instead on the second test of the season in Barcelona.
The team revealed some time ago that the new VJM08 would not be ready for Jerez, but it had been expected that the old VJM07 would be used. However the car would have run a 2014 power unit and it was decided that there would be little to gain by doing the test.
The team said on Twitter: “We have chosen not to run the old (2014) car in Jerez. The learning opportunities would have been limited so the focus is now on Barcelona.”
Force India does of course use a Mercedes gearbox as well as the power unit, so a significant chunk of the new car will be tested by the works team in Jerez.
With Force India, Caterham and Marussia all absent only eight teams will be in Jerez.
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 