Mark Webber explains his “injury secret” to the angry team boss, Christian Horner
The Red Bull driver, Mark Webber clarifies his position, regarding the secret of the injured shoulder, saying that since this did not affect his performance so he decided to stay silent about it.
The driver has revealed earlier this week, in his newly published book, that he drove the last few races of the 2010 season with a fractured shoulder. This not only surprised his fans and the media but shocked his team members and especially the team principal,
Christian Horner. It was also disclosed in his book that the FIA doctor, Gary Hartstein and Webber's trainer Roger Cleary, were also aware of the injury but were instructed by the driver to stay silent over the matter.
As the news came out earlier this week, Horner expressed a lot of “disappointment and frustration” saying that it was very annoying at the driver’s part to keep the team unaware for such an important incident. The 37-year-old also exclaimed a few days back
that it was not very wise at the Australian’s part to do things that can cause injuries especially at such a crucial part of the season.
Webber was injured ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, as he met an accident during a mountain bike crash following the Singapore round. He also faced a quite similar accident, during a charity event as the 2008 season ended. However, then he had more serious
injury as he suffered from a broken leg and bruised shoulder. Now, when asked about both the events, Horner very vividly stated that at the age of ‘34’, he must avoid such stuff.
While answering the reporters’ question regarding the fracture, the youngest team principal of Formula One said, “I didn’t even know about the book, let alone the shoulder. It is obviously disappointing that Mark said nothing. It was an injury that did not
appear to have any effect on his performance but all the same it would have been nice to know about it.”
However, Webber clarified his side saying that the injury was not a crucial one that could have affected his race. Moreover, he told that for the pain, he kept getting injections and once on the track he was quite fit for the races.
The Australian driver, who is already suffering from poor relations with his team and his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, stood by his decision confirming that "there was no need" to tell the whole story to the team as it was not holding him back from anything.
He further assured, "The shoulder wasn’t causing me a problem, so there was no need to talk about it to anyone. If I’d had any issues with it in the car, then of course I would have told the team. But that wasn’t the case. I’ve never missed a grand prix
but of course if I couldn’t drive the car a) safely and b) on the limit, I would have notified the team.”
Replying back all the explanations of Webber, Horner said that although the team has not added any contractual limitations on Webber for biking activities, but still he would like to see the driver more careful in the future. He sternly added that it was
necessary for him to keep himself intact, and that all the team drivers must take it as an obligation to keep themselves as fit as they can.
He concluded saying that as it already seems that bikes don’t ‘agree with Mark’ therefore, he should better stay away from them.
Tags: