Mark Webber kept not only his injured shoulder from team boss Christian Horner, but the Red Bull chief didn’t even know his driver was writing a book.
Lol! What a great twist to this story. (I don’t know why, but Webber’s not even telling the team about his book is just tickling me.)
For those who missed it, we learned yesterday — as Webber’s newest book hit shelves in Australia — that he’d broken his shoulder in a mountain biking accident before the Japanese Grand Prix. He raced the last four stops on the 2010 calendar without informing the team he’d had another (remember the leg?) biking crash. (In that one, he also hurt his shoulder and didn’t tell the team about it, just the leg fracture.)
Well, he managed to keep it all a secret, Horner tells the Daily Telegraph:
“I didn’t even know about the book, let alone the shoulder,” Horner told Telegraph Sport.
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“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.”
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Asked if mountain bikes would be banned for 2011, Horner said: “Our drivers have an obligation to make sure they are fit. It seems bikes don’t agree with Mark so maybe it would be better if he stayed away from them.”
I don’t know if this story is going to say in the “silly, it’s slow news” category or turn into something more. Could Horner’s statement about bikes be the first hint of a policy that chafes Webber? Could Webber’s actions in hiding his injury be what breaks down the relationship between him and Red Bull?
Perhaps most likely: How much more does this seal Sebastian Vettel in as the No. 1 driver?
