Following the race in Singapore, the 34-year old racer went back to Australia, where he decided to go for a mountain bike ride with one of his friends. As revealed in his book, he crashed his bike and sustained a shoulder injury in the process, which he only disclosed to FIA doctor Gary Hartstein and Webber's trainer Roger Cleary.
At the time of the accident, Webber was leading the overall classification, while teammate and eventual championship winner Sebastian Vettel was 31 points behind. In the last 4 rounds that went on, Webber not only failed to keep his advantage on top of the classification, but eventually finished the season in 3rd place.
“I didn't even know about the book, let alone the shoulder,” said Horner in a recent interview with the London's Telegraph. “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,” he added.
Additionally, Horner advised his driver to stay off two wheels for the future couple of years, as it was in the same way – a mountain bike crash – that he sustain a serious shoulder and leg injury during the Tasmania Challenge back in 2008.
“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,” concluded the Red Bull boss.
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