Mark Webber Drove With Broken Shoulder

Webber had to have pain-killing injections before races in Japan and Korea and has refused to blame the injury for his failure to win the title and kept it secret from his team boss Christian Horner.

Webber sustained the injury a week before the Japanese Grand Prix in early October but the  fracture could not be treated.

It was the second time in under two years that Webber had suffered an injury while training on a mountain bike.

In November 2008, he was hit by a car while taking part in his own adventure challenge in Australia and suffered a major fracture of his right leg and a broken shoulder.

"On the Sunday morning before (the Japanese Grand Prix at) Suzuka, I got on a mountain bike for the first time since my accident in Tasmania at the end of 2008.I was riding with a great friend of mine. Suddenly, he crashed right in front of me and I had nowhere to go but straight through the ears of the horse! Suzuka is a brutal track so it was a blessing that the Japanese weather gave me an enforced rest day on the Saturday (when qualifying was rained off), and a pre-race injection helped." he said.

Webber's title hopes took a blow when he crashed out in Korea before a second place in Brazil behind Vettel kept him in the championship race.

An eighth-placed finish in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ended his titles hopes as Vettel was rewarded for his strong finish to the season with his maiden F1 championship.