Button, Alonso to start Barcelona test

With just four days of testing remaining prior to the first race of the 2010 campaign, all nine current teams plus new outfits Virgin Racing and Lotus will attend the test that runs from Thursday until Sunday at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Although not all teams have finalised their driver plans for this week's test, most of them have now confirmed how they will split their test duties.

McLaren has decided to alternate its drivers over the course of the four days. Button will drive on the Thursday and Saturday of the test, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton will test on the Friday and Sunday.

Mercedes GP has opted for a similar tactic for its two drivers, with Rosberg driving on the first and third day, and Michael Schumacher taking the wheel on the other two days.

Ferrari is to run Alonso on the first two days of the test, while Felipe Massa will round off Ferrari's preparations by testing on Saturday and Sunday.

The other teams that have so far confirmed their line-ups are also giving both their drivers two successive days.

Williams will run Nico Hulkenberg on the first two days before he hands over to Rubens Barrichello, Renault will run Vitaly Petrov on the first days before Robert Kubica takes over, while Vitantonio Liuzzi kicks off Force India's testing for the first two days before Adrian Sutil gets back in the car.

AUTOSPORT.com will again bring full live coverage of the Barcelona test from Thursday.