Mark Webber kept quiet about shoulder injury

F1 Fanatic round-up

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Mark Webber, Red Bull, Suzuka, 2010

The story about Mark Webber spotted by Hamish in Sunday’s round-up was widely reported yesterday. More in today’s round-up:

Links

Thoughts on Mark Webber’s shoulder injury and what it means for Red Bull (Daily Telegraph)

As tipped by Hamish here two days ago.

Moss slams Schumacher (Sky Sports)

“He is flawed. He was all over the place. We never saw him at his best when he had a really good driver alongside him. We never saw him in a Ferrari with a driver of similar talent really, so I think that (his number of titles) is misleading.”

Every F1 game on the PC compared (Codemasters forum)

How many of these games have you played?

ScarbsF1 on Twitter

Schumacher not happy with the W01: “The exhaust got so hot that the underside of the car burnt. The F-duct was triggered in parts of the track where it shouldn’t have been.”

Williams via Twitter

Rubens at the factory today for FW33 seat fitting following Autosport Awards last night.

Barrichello's seat fitting

Comment of the day

Lots of readers have been sharing their experience of going to races this year but one fan went to them all:

I guess you could say that I’m in a fairly unique situation in terms of being able to compare all the races.

Despite this though it’s virtually impossible to pick just one stand-out venue, every race has it’s own unique character – yes, even Turkey & Valencia!

Some fairly good advice though is to follow the rule of the 3 M’s: Monza, Monaco, Montreal.
Alex

Make sure you have a look at his blog for more.

From the forum

JT19 has started a collection of Quotes of the Year.

Site updates

Check out the new-look interactive charts created by Kareem Shaya which made their debut in this article yesterday:

Happy birthday!

A very happy birthday to Stretch!

On this day in F1

Happy birthday to Robert Kubica who turns 26 today.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

95 comments on “Mark Webber kept quiet about shoulder injury”

  1. In order:
    Webber shoud probably stop biking :-P

    Moss .. again?! Is this really necessary each and every time?

    So many F1 games, I always liked the ‘GrandPrix’ series, especially part 2 and 4 .. good memories :-)

    Doesn’t sound like the Mercedes was a very safe car to drive, but I’m sure they learned a lot for next year.

    Rubens looks happy .. kinda like he is lookin forward to a new toy :-P

    I’d like to go to all races, too. Have been to Monza and Monaco and really enjoyed them. Also liked Spa a lot, but I’m probably biased because I like the track so much (the conditions there were usually pretty aweful when I went there :-P)

  2. im pretty surprised at this.

    In all honesty (im a Webber fan), it sounds like a big excuse…

    but if his shoulder was broken, then there was nothing to do. It’s still incredible he managed to qualy just 0.07 secs behind Vettel in Seb’s favourite track and one of the most demanding of the calendar.

    And then again, he finished 2nd, setting the fastest lap at the last lap… with a broken shoulder and a full race AND qualy in the same day.

    1. Yes, he did an outstanding job considering his situation.

  3. oh how I wish I could go to every race, for that matter, how I wish I could go to one! Been watching F1 since I was 6 (1997) yet as neither my mum nor dad were fans I couldn’t go to a race. Now I’m old enough to go myself, I’m a student and can’t afford to go karting more than 3 times a year never mind go to a race. I’m hoping to go to Montreal in the next few years but god knows how I’ll get the money!

  4. Thanks Keith for the Happy Birthday! And it’s also nice to share a birthday with Robert Kubica, so happy birthday to him.

    Anyway can’t wait to read Webber’s new book. We got it signed last Thursday then Dad hid it for Christmas. :(

    1. appy birfdy stretch, av a gud ‘un!!

    2. Happy B-day to you and Kubica!

      1. Have a happy day,we hope in 2011 you have a championship fighting car with you.

    3. Congratulations with the birthday!

    4. Thanks guys! :)

  5. Just watched the highlights of Canadian GP qualifying on BBC. Definately my favourate moment of the season!

    1. That gilles villeneuve circuit really does put on a great show. I was there in 98, I think I should go back this year. What a fantastic place!

  6. well that explains why you don’t see webber at the end of the japanese grand prix in the race edits on formula1.com

    heck they had to use a “cardboard” webber, check it out yourself :)

    1. oh yeah, onto. i thought he was just sulking n just went home haha

  7. Mark couldn’t you have just stuck to the static bike in the gym while you were in the last throes of a title fight?

    Jesus christ…

  8. In response to Moss’s comments:

    I don’t think you can direct all those comments solely at Schumacher, as this more highlights the issue with the sport as a whole. I’m not a fan of the guy but you can’t blame him for being in the superior car for 5 years straight. He made the most of it, and reaped the rewards. It comes back to the point that is continually made that we now have pilots, not drivers. Their natural ability does not have enough of an influence on the result – he with the best car wins.

    My point is, you can’t just take this approach on Schumacher alone. Are the standings from this years WDC an order of driving ability? Clearly not. I could name a number of drivers that wouldn’t be champ if it wasn’t for their butt being planted in the right car.

    1. That, and the fact that Schumacher already had a very impressive record before Ferrari’s ultra-dominant period. You also have to wonder if the Ferraris of ’00-’04 would have been as dominant had they not been developed with the guidance of Schumacher. He’s certainly not my favorite driver in the history of the sport, but the fact remains, Schumacher’s a seven time champion and the most successful driver in the history of the sport (by a whole range of statistics). Moss has a total of zero championships to his name. Sour grapes.

      1. Agree. Who is Stirling Moss to comment on the driving abilities of Michael Schumacher??

        Never could stand Michael but he was an amazing driver. Someone needs to tell Moss to pull his head in and leave making comments like this to people that have actually won the WDC.

        1. If Sir Stirling Moss can’t make a comment on Schumacher because Moss never won the WDC, then by this logic people who have never even raced an F1 car, like the vast majority of F1 fans, can’t criticise any F1 driver.

          Moss was probably asked his opinion on Schumacher and he said what he thought, a view which a few seem to share.

          I have often seen fans slate the current crop of drivers for always towing the team line and not saying what they really think, yet if they ever do it would be seen as controversial and make headlines such as this.

          Even though Moss never won the WDC he is still rated as one of the best drivers in the history of the sport, he has seen most of the F1 greats in action and raced against some of them.

          We all have our own opinions, and if everyone agreed debates on sites like this wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting, but Moss is a lot more qualified to comment on F1 than most of us.

          1. Moss is a lot more qualified to comment on F1 than most of us.

            True.

          2. @PJA. You’ve missed the point.

            Happy for Stirling Moss or anyone else to comment on people’s driving abilities. If everyone else had the same view as me i’d be terribly bored.

            What i have an issue with is that because it’s “Stirling Moss” he somehow knows better than everyone else and seems to believe the hype around him being this amazing racing driver. I don’t buy that and i don’t buy him belittling other people’s achievements because he’s got a chip on his shoulder.

            To draw comparisons to situations outside F1: He’s like the guy at work that never quite made it the top of his profession. Seen people like this in my profession – classic chip on the shoulder stuff.

      2. Agree.

        He just did a better job than the others. It’s sad, because all those champs in the early 2000’s were pretty boring (appart from maybe 2000 and 2003), but he managed to win anyway.

        His car was the fastest? yeah, of course. But isn’t that the case with most of the F1 champions?

        Andretti, Clark, Senna, Villeneuve… all of them had the best cars of the field by miles.

        1. No great surprise from Moss, he has been bagging Schuey all year. pretty sad really

          1. Actually I htink he has done that ever since. In 1994 it started with saying that Senna would have beaten him and goes on until this day. He must have some personal problem with Schumacher.

            Also in my memory, Schumacher didn’t always have the best car by a mile. Also in the pre-2000s he won quite a lot of races with Ferraris that ware on occasions just ridiculous (parts falling out of the back of them). And in 2006 he almost won the championship, hadn’t it been for a broken engine in Japan (he must have thought ‘seriously, now you are breaking?! in those years when i dominated you kept running but NOW you break down on me?!’)

            I don’t really know why I’m defending him like that, neither am I a big fan, nor does a 7 time champion need anyone to defend him.

          2. Why is it when Schumacher looks a threat “they” wheel all the old anti – Schumacher brigade out to slag Schumi off.Pathetic isn’t the right word to use,but there again I am a lady!:)

        2. Vettel also,…My opinion, if hr stays in the Red Bull he will never be a champion once again,..

      3. It must also be remembered that like almost any press interview only selected elements of what Moss said will have been printed and they might be slightly out of context.

        I can understand though where Moss is coming from, Schumacher certainly is or was a great driver, but is he really as good as the statistics appear to make him? What always bothered me, even at the height of his success was the number of simple mistakes that he made. He was so dominant that most of those had little effect (apart from when he broke his legs). But when you look at the other truly greats, Clark, Stewart, Senna, Prost, they just didn’t make that type of simple mistake…. it bothered me then, and it bothers me now. He certainly didn’t always have the best car, people thought him mad when he went to Ferrari, and his car development skills are legendary which the current testing ban doesn’t help. But why if he is so great does he keep making silly mistakes. I don’t know the answer.

        1. Yes, 7 titles, 91 wins, a gazillion points and race leading miles, all that is somewhat overblown .. i guess nobody could live up to numbers like that.

          Sadly I forgot the tons and tons of simple mistakes that you mentioned, would you care to enlighten me please? It shouldn’t be hard to name something like .. 25 of them in the 20 years of racing career he had so far. Thanks a lot in advance :-)

          What I still remember very well is how I stood in Belgium, looked at the Pouhon corner and for the first time in the session this red car came and he immediately drove through it absolutely on the edge and repeated that exercise 7 more times, flawless, beautiful, like none of the other drivers did. To quote Brundle (who said it in a different context) “he was so fast through that corner, i thought he was on fast forward’ :-D

          1. The mostly came when he was under no pressure and he just went off, frequently he just recovered and carried on. The most obvious and clear is when he broke his legs, no pressure, nothing wrong with the car and he just drove it off the road. No, the other greats just didn’t do that, yes they went off the road at times but never simple no pressure errors.

          2. @JimN

            Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone because the car had brake failure. It’s appalling (and laughable) that you’re using that to prove that he makes rookie errors.

          3. @David A
            The issue isn’t that the brake failed. The issue is that the race had already been red flaged, he had already passed a couple of flag marshals posts and he was still driving at that speed, why?

          4. Because Schumacher wasn’t informed that the race was red flagged. Looking at the videos, it even appeared as if Hakkinen, Coulthard and Irvine were driving at similar speeds to MSC.

            So yes, that’s still a very poor example of an unforced error, especially when you’ve already had to backtrack on there being nothing wrong with the car.

          5. And even if he had passed any marshall posts, it was still impossible for him to slow down and keep the car on the road, because of the brakes.

        2. But when you look at the other truly greats, Clark, Stewart, Senna, Prost, they just didn’t make that type of simple mistake….

          Best case of selective memory i’ve ever seen. Of course they all made similar mistakes.

          1. No not at all. We are talking about degree of brilliance here. Schumacher is without question in the top 6 drivers of all time. But statistically he is No1 in all the main statistics. The only meaningful one that he is not, is win to start ratio where he is 4th.

            The question is, is he the greatest driver of all time as the stats suggest? and for me and seemingly for Moss it’s difficult to call him that when he can dive so brilliantly most of the time and then make some very simple errors.

          2. and for me and seemingly for Moss it’s difficult to call him that when he can drive so brilliantly most of the time and then make some very simple errors.

            As I said, every driver, even the other greats have had a similar share of bad races, where they made simple errors or did not drive to their potential. These count against the others as much as they do against Schu.

    2. I happen to agree with Moss to a point. Schumacher is a very good driver and that is not in question, however I don’t think he is as good as the 7 WCs suggest. Remember that he won some of them by ramming other drivers off the circuit etc. I think the current crop of drivers in Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, etc are much better drivers than Schumacher has ever been and this is shown also by how he was beaten hands down by Rosberg. Unfortunately for schumacher, the old days of getting away with dangerous moves are gone as he found out to his cost with the move on Rubens.

      1. Remember that he won some of them by ramming other drivers off the circuit etc.

        One of them, not “some of them”, and only because D. Hill had four extra rounds to score points in.

  9. the new interactive graphs are miles better than the previous ones. nice one!

    1. Agreed. I hadn’t really registered when looking at that article that they’d changed, but I like the new look a lot better, especially the color coding next to the drivers’ names.

  10. new brundle website! great stuff.
    http://www.martinbrundle.com/

  11. @ Sir Stirling Moss
    I know Sir Stirling Moss is a respectable man but I don’t think so this words will earn respect for him. I do agree that many think that Senna is the best driver of all time. But that by no mean Schumacher is a bad driver the way he is describing.He came back to F1 because he is hungry & wants more wins,that a different story that how good his car is & for sure he will take some time to adapt as he haven’t been racing for 3 years.
    To everyone who thinks Schumi made a mistake by coming back to F1, JUST GIVE
    HIM A GOOD CAR then watch & talk.

    @ Webber
    Why did he revealed it now? He just should have kept things to himself as he didn’t tell that to anyone when it happened during the F1 season.

  12. It’s amaizing how almost all those games are rubbish. But not the gameplay (that’s easy to get wrong). The graphics are so bad! everything is so out of proportion it almost hurts!

    Motorsports fan really have it difficult there. You have to get a proper racing game, download million of mods, have a very powerful computer and ALSO a good steering wheel and pedals… and still, most of the stuff made for us it’s rubbish.

  13. For anyone who is interested this is the title decider in last weeks V8 Supercars Championship.

    Take note that the first 3 cars you see are the 3 title contenders, all on slick tyres.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyEM_FIDSTc

  14. So it’s obvious now that webber loves bikes more than F1 because it’s obvious that this shoulder injury affected him during the last 4 races. Couldn’t he wait a few more weeks to get onto that bloody bike? very dissapointed marky, very!

  15. It is official Webber is a bad looser.
    And a very bad employee.
    Don’t think Red Bull will be too empressed, being kept in the dark, with serious stuff like this.

    1. Why is he a bad looser, if he was then he would have used the sholder as an excuse.

      1. What do you think he doing right now? Bringing it out in the news is an excuse.. he might deny that the shoulder lost him the championship, but we all know why this news came out in the 1st place.

        1. he wrote it in his book which chronicles the 2010 season. Of course he’s going to write it in there. Its journalists putting it in the news from the book.

          1. Once the book was published it became public knowledge. I don’t get the eagerness with which some people are trying to somehow blame journalists for this.

          2. I’m not blaming the journalists, I’m responding to the people who are saying that Webber is whinging and blaming everything else for not winning the championship.

            He hasn’t made a big deal of it, and I’d hardly call it whinging. The only reason its been made wide knowledge is because the journalists picked it up form his book. He never went out and told journalists and made a fuss of it.

            He’s hardly “whinging” about it or being a “bad looser” and certainly not making a big deal about it. I think its hugely unfair of people who are criticising Webber about this story.

            *And I’m not sure what a “bad looser” is anyway, what, he struggles to get jar lids off?

          3. He hasn’t made a big deal of it

            He’s written about it in a book. If he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it then he shouldn’t have mentioned it publicly at all.

          4. one line is hardly making a big deal of it. The book is a recollection of his season, of course he’s going to write what happened. If he broke his shoulder he broke his shoulder. There’s probably a lot of other minor details in the book too, thats what this is, a minor mention. But he’s not going on and on, he hasn’t made a big deal of it, he’s not blaming losing the championship on it. He wrote a single line about it.

            A single mention is not making a big deal out of something. Its not whinging. Its not coming up with excuses. Its nothing that some of these people criticising him are saying it is.

          5. And I’m not defending people who make those claims. But news is news and Webber’s the one who broke it.

        2. He didn’t tell the newspapers. He wrote a bit about it in his book and even said that it had nothing to do with him losing the championship. The media picked up on it though and that’s the reason why it’s out there now.

    2. Webber was in a title fight, proberly the last time he will be in one. As if he would tell everyone about his broken shoulder, no but he didn’t complain about it and he just got on with things. Might explain why he lost a bit of form in the final races, not sure though.

      But Webber a bad looser, nah I dont think so.

    3. That is vintage Webber, isn’t it? He has an accident (and he is involved in many per season)? The other guy is always to blame. His team mate beats him? The team doesn’t love him or he was injured with a broken shoulder, no less. Try to drive a F1 (or a go-kart if you will) for 90 min with a broken shoulder an tell me if it is doable….. Always a reason not to look reality in the eye. It is just unbelievable how lame this fellow is.

      1. Jarred Walmsley
        7th December 2010, 12:06

        If it was an excuse do you not think he would have brought it out earlier to whinge about it.

        In my opinion saying that Webber is a bad loser because he put an incident that occured in the 2010 F1 season in his book about the 2010 F1 season is like saying massa is a bad loser because he put the “Fernando is faster than you” incident in a book about the 2010 F1 season. Get over it already, it was a single line in his book, he didn’t bring it out to the public’s attention the media did

        1. he didn’t bring it out to the public’s attention the media did

          The person who made this story public was Mark Webber. He’d successfully kept it quiet this long, he could have gone on doing so, but he chose to write about it. It’s not as if someone broke into his local surgery and stole his doctor’s notes.

          1. no….unless you paid for and read the book then you would found out.
            I have not so media have HIGHLIGHTED and reported the context of a book.

            Also the book would have had to been written and edited on the fly till end of season…
            Not retrospectively…so he would have dictated the accident at the time and not after season…
            Other wise it would still be in editing and printing stage LOL

          2. Sorry I don’t know what you mean by that.

          3. @AP, so a book that’s published and sold publicly is somehow private?

    4. More copies will be sold now that is for sure. I was not going to buy it but am now requesting it for Christmas thanks to this story.

      Good marketing by Webber. Definitely not a sore loser though. A fairly content loser I have thought. Have seen many interviews since Abu Dhabi and he reflects very positively on the season.

      Can see both sides of the argument but am with Ben and co on this one. Particularly lame response from Antifia implying that he was making it up. If this was so the FIA doctor who alledgedly knew about it and administered injections would be saying that he didn’t know anything about it.

  16. I just wish there was more overtaking possible. For the world champ to not have overtaken more than 1 or 2 cars seems like things are distorted now. Formula 1 is very distorted when cars can’t overtake. Moss is right partly schumi had the best car, mansell had the best car when he won world champ, senna/ Prost had the best car etc etc…
    I think the excitement comes when we see drivers excel under difficult conditions. Eg. Senna in the rain in a toleman at Monaco 84(?) in Spa and v mansell in the closest race ever. Even recently. Alonso coming from the rear at Monaco, (and the schumi pass.) Kobayshi’s daring / sometime stupid moves… History us full of drivers overcoming odds and that’s what we want to see more of. Not leafing from the front.

  17. Hamilton and webber have probably done the most overtaking. Rosberg has done some impressive OT’s as well late in the year. (not based on stats just from memory of the year) If webber or Hamilton won at least people would recognize their talent for overtaking this year an overcoming the odds( Hamilton not in the best car and webber with his continual injuries)

  18. Schumacher didn’t have the hardest of teammate’s but he did have to fight against cars that were sometimes better than his own, Alonso and Hakkinen. Rubens wasn’t a slouch either just ask last year’s world champion.

    I don’t think Schumacher had to face the length and depth of racing talent that is on the grid today but I don’t think it takes away from his titles it just means he won it in a different way.

    He built teams around him, he moulded everything around him and would test endlessly. He would completely dominate Rubens which as I said earlier JB struggled to do. I don’t think it means he’s any less talented or that hisn titles or worth less just that maybe he used every bit of performance available which is a credit to him. Plus, he did it at two different teams and when previously, Ferrari were nowhere. So I have to respectfully disagree with Sir Stirling. Schumacher is flawed but the number of titles aren’t misleading.

    1. But wouldn’t Prost, Pique, Senna and Mansell have a lot more titles if they had team mates who’s job was to support them? Prost would have a 7-title haul easily if Lauda and Senna had played second fiddle.

      1. “But wouldn’t Prost, Pique, Senna and Mansell have a lot more titles if they had team mates who’s job was to support them? ”

        Arguably but that’s the point I was trying to make. Schumacher didn’t just race he moulded the team around him and dominated his team mates. He went about winning in a different way I feel but that doesn’t take away the worth of his 7 titles.

    2. I’d also like to point out that whilst he did win championships against drivers in quicker cars, there were only a couple. One of them was against Hill (who really was a mediocre driver in a fast car) and the mclarens were so unreliable that they barely finished a race!

      1. I’ve always wondered about this theory and I come to believe it less and less.

        The 1994 Williams had lost all of the electronic gizmos that made it the dominant car of 1992 and 1993. Senna famously complained about the car’s driveability. And if you believe some, Benetton employed all sorts of illegal stuff to win. I can’t remember where I read it, but somewhere it was said that the Benetton was hard to drive, but if you could it would get you places.

        Schumacher won the title in a controversial incident, but also suffered penalties throughout the year that compare only with Hamilton’s 2008 season for drama. Without them, Hill would have been nowhere near Schumacher. Of course, if you believe the Benetton was illegal, then all those points lost to race bans and dodgy decisions (if you thought Valencia was a farce, Silverstone 1994 really takes the biscuit) simply levelled the playing field and the points margin was what it “should” have been.

        Let’s not forget by the time of Senna’s death he had scored no points that year, thanks in part to spinning himself out of his home race in one of the most rookie mistakes I’ve seen footage of Senna making. No “mediocre” driver could have ever won the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix and he didn’t even benefit from cars in front of him crashing or blowing up. Never underestimate the pressure on Hill to be team leader after such a traumatic shock to the team either. Remember the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix? If you would ask anyone who didn’t know of it to imagine a situation in which such a poor car could almost win, they’d say you’d have to have a Schumacher or Alonso in there to do it, not a Webber or Button level of driver. I’m not saying Hill was as good as that, but no mediocre driver could have done that. He very nearly even got pole for the last race in Jerez too, which would have been very interesting for that year’s championship.

        Anyway. Either Schumacher’s car was good and he should have beat Hill by a far more comfortable margin before the penalties, or it was illegally good and the final tally was an accurate reflection of the drivers’ seasons. In 1995 the cars were fairly equal and Benetton may have even had the slightly better package. He nearly won in 1997 in a car so far behind team orders were the only way to plug even half the gap. In 1998 he challenged to the last against the might of a Newey car in the first year of new rules driven by someone as good as Hakkinen. Come to think of it, I don’t think Schumacher has ever won a championship in an inferior car, but he’s certainly challenged in them. His 3 wins in 1996 were also damn impressive.

        1. “And if you believe some, Benetton employed all sorts of illegal stuff to win”

          He-who-must-not-be-spoken-of-in-F1 was head of Benetton at the time, so there must be some truth in it.

          1. Oh yeah, everything Flavio ever touched was illegal.

            There’s no real evidence, so there may be truth in it, but the word “must” can’t be used.

          2. Yes, of course. May is the right word. Apologies, I’m trying my best to get the nuances right but I’m still French !

    3. I agree. With regards to Rubens, in Ferrari he was in an environment completely adapted to Schumacher’s liking, and it was his role to support that. He was never going to truly shine at that place.

      I don’t know about anyone else but in the 2010 season he’s impressed me more than ever.

  19. I can’t imagine the brass at Red Bull being very happy at all with Webber’s revelation. I’m left to wonder if dropping this bomb might wind up costing him his seat.

  20. Not telling Horner was pretty stupid. Surely limiting some of the practice he was doing before the race might have helped and not hindered.

    It’s all very childish isn’t it? Getting a bit tired of all this ‘aussie grit’ rubbish.

    1. Horner is “disappointed,” and you can just multiply his sentiments by 1000 get a feel for the kind of German being used by Helmut and Dieter to express his views on this.

      I think he had a duty to say something. I’m not doctor but anything you would call a shoulder fracture does not seem like a thing you subject to 4-5 Gs of loading, heavy upper-body exertion, and the risk of a major impact. And so I doubt he got some kind of medical all-clear and kept it to himself.

      If he crashed out due to pain or fatigue in the shoulder or because he was brimmed with cortizone, and hit the wall and then another car (couldn’t have happened, right?) that is RBR’s business. It could also be the other drivers’ business.

      1. Webber cleared it with the FIA doctor, so he was obviously safe to drive and as Webber keeps stating, it didn’t affect his driving.
        So it’s not an excuse as some are saying.
        It’s also ridiculous to say he’s made up the story.

  21. Well when you take into consideration the team were just looking for any excuse to back Vettel could you really blame him for keeping it a secret.

    1. Seems childish to me. Kind of because you’re not backing me, it’s ok to be unprofessional.

      Horner was definitely a tool, but its no excuse to act like one yourself.

      1. Totaly agree. Biking with four races to go when you are in contention for the championship AND have had a previous bike accident that hindered your previous year effort seems very foolish and unprofessional to me.

        I understand why he wouldn’t want to divulge his injuries once the damage had been done, but if I were his team manager, I’d be furious that a) he went biking, b) he hid his injury from the team.

        1. I don’t see any problem with Webber going biking, F1 drivers have to keep fit and they don’t just stay in the gym the whole time, Button competed in a triathlon in the summer break and he would have been on his bike before that quite a few times.

          Webber may have had a serious bike accident previously but how many years had he been cycling and nothing major had happened.

          I think it says a lot about his relationship with Red Bull that he didn’t tell the team about the injury though. If he felt at home in the team and believed they supported him, I would have thought he would have told them.

    2. I wouldn’t really want to go to my boss on the final leg of the most important season of his career and say “sorry mate, I’ve smashed in my shoulder”. Better to have that conversations after both titles were clinched :P

  22. Senna made plenty of mistakes when not under pressure, Prost less so. That doesn’t make them any lesser drivers or better in my eyes. Stats count though and his dominance can’t be denied. Maybe the newer generation e.g alonso, hamilton rosberg etc are better drivers than any of the greats, because let’s face it rosberg as completely owned schumacer

  23. Has there been any explanation as to why Webber didn’t mention this to the team? It seems rather strange for him not to mention something like this.

    Was he afraid of repercussions? or did he simplky think it none of their business?

  24. Do people honestly think a grown up and mature individual such as Mark Webber looked back on this year and then thought ‘Yeah, that’s what i’ll do. I think i’ll make up a story about having a fractured shoulder and use that as a sole excuse for the reason I didn’t win the 2010 title.’

    If anything, he’s not made excuses, as he kept quite about the whole thing during those disappointing last 4 races. He’s held his hands up enough times when he knows he’s been in the wrong. Some people are cynical and pathetic.

    1. Problem is, some of his fans will use the shoulder as an excuse, and the comments in this thread are probably directed more at those annoying fanboys who berated Vettel throughout the season, rather than Webber himself. I agree that Webber has held his hands up many times and is not using this as an excuse.

    2. Electrolite: That is exactly what I honestly think. Till somebody neutral tells “I’ve seen the medical records”, I’ll keep my opinion that he made it up as an excuse for losing the title. And this old trick of saying “no it is not an excuse” is just too obvious. From now on, when somebody says that Webber was beaten by Vettel, his fans are certain to say: Yes, but only because he raced 4 races with a broken shoulder..blah, blah, blah!
      Ah, and why he didn’t mention it during those 4 races? Maybe because there was no injury! And because telling this story back then would have triggered scrutiny. His team would have a doctor examining his shoulder and the whole thing would have become a pretty embarrassing for Mr. Webbo Tall-Tale.

      1. “his fans are certain to say…”

        No fans of webber have said that’s why he lost the title and webber has not said that’s why either. Just let it go. Why does every F1 story have to be sensationalised. Is it because the season is over and people are bored?

        1. Was it the same shoulder that was broken in 2008? Because really, that is not so much of a stretch to accept that he has re-fractured the same injury. I beleive that is quite a common occurrance. Or do you want to see those medical records as well, Antifia?

  25. paul sainsbury
    8th December 2010, 0:04

    ‘Who is Stirling Moss to comment on the driving abilities of Michael Schumacher??’

    I have to say, that is one of the best bits of (unintentional) humour I have read for quite some time.

    Seriously though, it does show a good example of a great and quite widespread ignorance of our sport from some modern fans. I am 39, so, Stirling was long-retired before I was even born, but I do know enough of the history to know where Stirling Moss stands in the pantheon of greats. The suggestion that he is not qualified to comment on the driving of MS is just appallingly ignorant.

  26. the sequel will be called “2011 – the year i won wdc then wiped all my haters faces in it”.

    Ahhhh hindsight.

  27. Schumi the greatest
    8th December 2010, 11:20

    Back to the shumacher argument….”had the best car by miles” Sorry did senna,Prost, Clark, alonso or fangio not have the best car when he won his world titles? There are not many examples of drivers winning the tittle who didnt have the best car the closest 1 i can think of is 1997 when shucmacher nearly won the tittle in a car that started the season over 1.5 seconds a lap slower.

    @Jimn – your argument about simple mistakes is pretty poor to be honest…senna never made a simple mistake did he? The 1 thing i remember from when shcumacher was at ferrari was the astonishment if he simply made a driver error during a race that put him out…canada 99 springs too mind. Add to that only the ferrari’s of 01, 02 and 04 had real clear advantage anyway. 00 was a season long battle with mclaren and 03 was a 3 way fight between ferrari, williams and mclaren. If you want to delve into that a little further you’ll see schumacher was past 30 career wins after the end of 99 which put him 3rd on the all time winnders list…not bad for a guy who from 96-99 never had the quickest car in the field but still he managed to gain 16 victories in that time. During that spell he had some incredible drives spain 96, monaco 97, spa 97, hungary 98 (25 seconds lead he made in 17 laps) and his drive in suzuka 98 was very impressive before his tyre blew. tell me that hes not a great driver now?

    Obviously my username will lead you to believe im a biased schumacher fan, he is my favourite driver yes, but i also see him as flawed…much like senna (deliberatler driving prost off at japan 90 and many other incidents during his career that were questionable) the sad thing is senna’s death seems to have made alot of fans forget how alike him and schumacher were in that respect.

    Fair enough if you dont like someone but dont disrespect someones incredible talent just because of it.

  28. I’m really surprised to see that revelation of a broken/fractured shoulder is interpreted as ‘making an excuse’ here. Webber, from what we can tell, is one of the first guys to say “I screwed up” and last guys to point the finger.

    Confirmed by reading the book.

    Honestly surprised.

  29. More copies will be sold now that is for sure. I was not going to buy it but am now requesting it for Christmas thanks to this story.

    Good marketing by Webber. Definitely not a sore loser though. A fairly content loser I have thought. Have seen many interviews since Abu Dhabi and he reflects very positively on the season.

    Can see both sides of the argument but am with Ben and co on this one. Particularly lame response from Antifia implying that he was making it up. If this was so the FIA doctor who alledgedly knew about it and administered injections would be saying that he didn’t know anything about it.

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