Lewis Hamilton also made the long-haul return flight to Europe in the wake of last weekend’s Malaysian grand prix.
British newspapers reported after Sepang that it was teammate Jenson Button who was told to fly back to Woking in order to complete a day at the wheel of the McLaren simulator.
But now the London newspaper The Times reveals that Hamilton, 25, was also at the McLaren Technology Centre this week for simulator runs.
The Daily Mail also corrected its earlier claim that only Button had made the flight back at McLaren’s behest, adding that Hamilton will then return "to his Geneva base to recuperate ahead of the journey to Shanghai".
"Arrived in Tokyo after a day at MTC on the sim," 30-year-old Button wrote on his Twitter page on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Blick newspaper reports that Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi will be working on the Shanghai layout in Red Bull’s Milton-Keynes simulator on Wednesday.