Recovering Button to miss testing again

The Briton hurt his ribs in a karting accident post-season and, although the injury itself is not enough to keep him out of the car, the fear of another impact delaying his recovery has sidelined the Honda driver.

Button missed the first two winter tests in Barcelona and Jerez, and will now not return to the cockpit until January. It is not clear whether he will only get back driving when Honda's new car hits the track.

A team spokesperson told autosport.com: "We have been monitoring Jenson's rib injury over the last few weeks and are delighted to say that it is healing very well.

"To ensure the healing process continues unabated we have taken the decision that Jenson will not drive at this week's test in Jerez.

"He will however attend the test to take part in the engineering meetings and to continue to stay fully up to date with our winter development programme."

Button's absence means that he has not yet experienced the Bridgestone tyres that his team will be using in 2007.