Mark Webber Seriously Injured

[kuskor 0]

If he has an obvious leg fracture requiring surgery, that's six week without weight bearing and at least 3-4 more to regain some strength.

Edit

" HOBART, Australia - Australian Formula One driver Mark Webber suffered a broken right leg and underwent surgery after being hit by a car Saturday during a charity multi-sports race, a race official said. "The surgery is complete, a pin inserted and the recovery begins," Geoff Donohue, event director for the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview."

http://www.cfrb.com/news/15/831868

[duest 0]

He'll miss a lot of crucial testing of the car with the new regs and is unlikely to start the season in the car. This, unfortunately, could be the end of his career.

Given the nature of the early reports, this concern was in the back of my mind too.

This is a shock but it is too soon to tell what it will imply. A week (or less) in the hospital for post-surgery recovery and then rehab. The 2009 season is a long way off... we'll see.

Yup. Spot on. Early days and current reports say it's not as bad as first reported.

Is it serious? I had read he just broke leg.

Doesn't seem to be too serious. If I could change the topic title I would. Maybe a mod could? However, when I first posted the TV news report painted it as multiple fractures to arms and legs and that he was in a serious condition. One news source even reported him as critical!

It's certainly a set back for him for next season. Not just because of lost fitness and car time, but because he'll have less input into the development of a brand new car. Especially with his threatening, younger team mate of next year. Mark might hop into the car for the first time in Melbourne and find out Vettel prefers the car to go left when the steering wheel is turned right or something!

[Jean Todt 4]

Kitchen??? What in the hell is a kitchen???? Oh, I remember now, it's where those pussies like Gordan Ramsay spend their time isn't it

Ayway, be fair, Abbas, it was a charity event

Did you watch the episode, in which James May beats him?

[Oli 1]

Breaking a leg is a setback but not a disaster. When you have a zillion dollars and a team dedicated to repairing you I think recovery can be a lot faster than if you or I broke a leg.

Who knows, maybe he will be even better than before! Next step- cyborg drivers.

[Jez 0]

Don't do a Montoya on me Webber. Just don't.

[Jean Todt 4]

Don't do a Montoya on me Webber. Just don't.

Did Montoya sit on you?

[Fed up 0]

I think Webber's problem is going to be the testing and familiarity of the new cars. Schumacher missed 6 races when he broke his leg so I expect Mark will be fit and ready in time for the start of the season - however he will not have had the chance to drive the car so will be on a steep learning curve and, like JPM, will be on the back foot immediately.

I personally think it will be a tall order for him and the team may employ an interim driver with an eye to the future.

Good luck to him

[Kopite Girl 0]

I think Webber's problem is going to be the testing and familiarity of the new cars. Schumacher missed 6 races when he broke his leg so I expect Mark will be fit and ready in time for the start of the season - however he will not have had the chance to drive the car so will be on a steep learning curve and, like JPM, will be on the back foot immediately.

I personally think it will be a tall order for him and the team may employ an interim driver with an eye to the future.

Good luck to him

100% agree. Great post!

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer 4]

Your obssesion with my person is amusing.

We'll add delusions and paranoia to OCD....

And to think you would be kissing my arse if I was a lewisteric. Just like Fedup and similiar hatemongers, I could post bigotry day and night and you would just cheer me on... no fun in that. I prefer your denials and echolalia.

Blah, blah, blah, whatever....

[The Burro 0]

Don't do a Montoya on me Webber. Just don't.

You mean...Mark Webber will gain 50 lbs during his recovery time and go to NASCAR?!

Did Montoya sit on you?

Montoya can sit on me any day, any time, any where. Connie, that is.

[Jez 0]

Did Montoya sit on you?

You mean...Mark Webber will gain 50 lbs during his recovery time and go to NASCAR?!

Montoya can sit on me any day, any time, any where. Connie, that is.

[Jean Todt 4]

You mean...Mark Webber will gain 50 lbs during his recovery time and go to NASCAR?!

Montoya can sit on me any day, any time, any where. Connie, that is.

[yurp 0]

I just saw this on the news. Mark Webber was competing in his charity event - The Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge - when he had a head on crash with a car while riding a mountain bike. He has been hospitalised and is reportedly undergoing surgery for a serious leg injury.

Terrible news! Mark does a lot for charity and it is rotten luck that something like this would happen to him. May he have a speedy and complete recovery!

Bad news - although from the looks of things he'll be over it soon.

Would you sign off Hamilton this quickly if it had happened to him? Never.

OCD in print.

Bad news - and from the looks of things he'll never get over it.

[AutoRacer5 0]

A metal rod with next year's KERS? The guy will be a living lightning rod

What a shocking discovery!

[Medilloni 6]

Hang on.

This is getting dodgier by the minute.

Look at the timing of this, just before KERS, Adrian Newey off-the-wall genius, just fit in time for the last test sessions before the season and now the latest news, the high content Nickel hybrid metal rod is in his RIGHT leg.........

"Surgeons report the operation a success, the metal rod has two electrical terminals in order to measure the the amount of electricity build up in the patient, these simply plug into a station developed with the help of Red Bull Technology.........."

Newey's a damn megastar. What next, other drivers having an 'acciedent'? Kimi going for THREE metal rods ? Let's just wait for the protests to fly huh?

[Jem of the Shire 0]

Because it is fun to see lewisteric flip out and start insulting... as it is to watch you guys pretending away their violent ways.

Of course, it is not necessary to "start off with a dig" to get lewisterics to insult. It's in their blood... as it is in yours to pretend away their violent ways.

Hilarious.

This is a prime example of you inviting the 'violence' which you keep bleating about.

You're making yourself look pathetic, so just give it a rest. No-one here, no-one at all agrees with your crap about violence. So please just stop it, its getting boring.

Webber will be absolutely fine, Melbourne is ages away (sadly for us!)

[Jean Todt 4]

This is a prime example of you inviting the 'violence' which you keep bleating about.

You're making yourself look pathetic, so just give it a rest. No-one here, no-one at all agrees with your crap about violence. So please just stop it, its getting boring.

Webber will be absolutely fine, Melbourne is ages away (sadly for us!)

I was trying to find a word for his posts.

[Jez 0]

Hang on.

This is getting dodgier by the minute.

Look at the timing of this, just before KERS, Adrian Newey off-the-wall genius, just fit in time for the last test sessions before the season and now the latest news, the high content Nickel hybrid metal rod is in his RIGHT leg.........

"Surgeons report the operation a success, the metal rod has two electrical terminals in order to measure the the amount of electricity build up in the patient, these simply plug into a station developed with the help of Red Bull Technology.........."

Newey's a damn megastar. What next, other drivers having an 'acciedent'? Kimi going for THREE metal rods ? Let's just wait for the protests to fly huh?

Sheesh! I think you're on to something here!

[rodders47 2]

yeah like hook up the metal rods to a 'puter that is connected to the FBW throttle controll and give the rod a shock to make it go wide open when the 'puter says too.

I bet note of that stuff is covered in the regs :-)

[Jez 0]

yeah like hook up the metal rods to a 'puter that is connected to the FBW throttle controll and give the rod a shock to make it go wide open when the 'puter says too.

I bet note of that stuff is covered in the regs :-)

Rodders, the FIA need you!

[Jez 0]

Sounds promising- source

No probs, mate. In words to that effect, Red Bull Racing's Formula One driver Mark Webber told reporters from his hospital bed in Hobart, Australia, that his injuries suffered at the weekend during his eponymous Pure Tasmania Challenge extreme endurance race are not insurmountable.

Launceston, Australia: Mark Webber takes a fall. Photo by Getty Images.

"I'll be back in plenty of time for the AGP (Australian Grand Prix) at the end of March," Webber told Australian newspaper the Herald Sun. "It'll be business as usual."

Although his business at home in Australia this week was meant to include a public appearance in Melbourne to promote the grand prix, to be run in 2009 at twilight, Webber instead continued his hospital stay after undergoing surgery to place a pin and two screws in his right leg. He broke the tibia and the fibula when the mountain bike he was riding was hit head-on by a Nissan X-Trail four-wheel-drive vehicle on open road in the island state of Tasmania. The vehicle driver was unhurt.

"It's a straightforward and clean-enough break, so I'm not expecting any complications or setbacks," Webber said.

Webber told the Herald Sun he did what he could to protect his upper body but his feet were clipped into the bike pedals, which left his legs vulnerable. Estimates had him doing 30 mph at the time of the crash.

"The pain was pretty bad and I knew straightaway that my lower leg was broken," he said.

Among Formula One drivers, Webber, 32, has taken endurance training to new lengths. The endurance race in which he was competing combined mountain biking with kayaking and trekking -- including abseiling -- and required elite fitness status, status that can greatly aid his recovery. Although early reports indicated he would return to England after leaving hospital in Hobart, Webber told the Herald Sun doctors advise against long-haul travel right away. Webber's father was quoted by The Times of London as saying Webber would convalesce in Melbourne or at his parents' home in Queanbeyan.

"It's a question of whether he recuperates in Melbourne or comes up to our house in Queanbeyan, near Canberra, where he can use the Australian Institute of Sport to help aid his rehabilitation," Alan Webber told The Times.

The elder Webber had been volunteering at the challenge event and by chance reached the scene of his son's accident. Webber's parents, Alan and Di Webber, were joined at hospital by Webber's manager and partner Ann Neal. Webber told the Herald Sun the group's plans to spend Christmas together in the United Kingdom will not change.

Webber said his records would be forwarded to Red Bull's medical crew for evaluation and planning. He said he had been scheduled to test only two days next month so though he'll miss that, he takes advantage of a testing cutback that leaves January open. He said he should be in good shape to resume his racing job by the time of testing in Jerez, Spain, on Feb. 10.

Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Drew Ward told the Sydney Morning News newspaper that he has every confidence Webber will be on the grid for the race.

"He is a very fit guy," Ward said. "He has undergone surgery to fix the break in his leg, and I know that immediately after he leaves hospital he will be straight into his rehabilitation. I think it's very unlikely there will be much time missed out of his Formula One testing schedule, and I expect him to be completely recovered in time for Melbourne."

Racing fans recall that Michael Schumacher won five world driving championships after breaking his right leg during the British Grand Prix in 1999.

[Ash1 0]

We all saw what happened to Kubica. So I wouldn't write off webber.

[Null 0]

I like mark, he's a nice guy and a great ambassador for the sport, such a shame

[Jem of the Shire 0]

We all saw what happened to Kubica. So I wouldn't write off webber.

What happened to Kubica??

I like mark, he's a nice guy and a great ambassador for the sport, such a shame

He's not dead!

[shampion 0]

What happened to Kubica??

I think Ash1 refers to Kubica's recovery from his accident in last years Montreal Grand Prix.