Webber drove last four F1 races with shoulder fracture

LONDON - Mark Webber drove the last four races of the Formula One season with a broken shoulder, the Red Bull driver has revealed.

The 34-year-old Australian sustained the injury in a mountain bike accident, BBC Sport reported Monday.

Webber kept the injury secret from team principal Christian Horner, telling only his physiotherapist Roger Cleary and the F1’s chief medical officer, Gary Hartstein.

At the time of the accident, Webber was leading the world championship by 11 points from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and was 21 ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel, who went on to win the drivers’ championship.

Webber says in his book, “Up Front - 2010, A Season To Remember”, he sustained the injury a week before the Japanese Grand Prix when he was out mountain biking with a friend.

“Suddenly, he crashed right in front of me an I had nowhere to go but straight through the ears of the horse!” he said. “I suffered what they call a skier’s fracture to my right shoulder.”

The fracture was quite fine and could not be treated. Webber had cortisone injections before the races in Japan and Korea to dull the pain.

It was the second time in a little less than two years that Webber has suffered an injury while out training on a mountain bike.

In November 2008 he was hit by a car in Tasmania and suffered a fracture of his right leg as well as a broken shoulder.

According to BBC, on that occasion he also kept the shoulder injury from his team and the public.