While a certain amount of speculation linking former Lotus team principal Eric Boullier with McLaren is to be expected, claims that the Frenchman will attend this week’s Jerez test are wide of the mark.

Contacted by Pitpass a McLaren spokesman rubbished the suggestion that Boullier will be at Jerez "with" his team.

"No, as is the case with a small but irritating number of so-called news stories on minor Formula 1 websites written by people who rarely check anything, that's utter nonsense," was the instant response when asked if there is any truth to the story.

So that's a non then.

Chris Balfe