Mark Webber insists he is well on the way to recovering from the injuries he suffered in his November cycling accident. Webber, 32, told the German newspaper Auto Motor und Sport that he intended returning to the cockpit of his Red Bull in time for the February tests scheduled by the team.
“I want to be testing at the beginning of February,” the Australian said. He has undergone some intensive rehabilitation work in Australia and is returning to Europe to continue the process. It has involved targeted exercises and swimming to improve the muscles without putting undue stress on the bones. “I can’t push it too much because the swelling will come back,” he explained.
The most serious of his injuries was to his right leg, which fortunately is not put under great stress when driving an F1 car. “It could have been much worse,” Webber said. “I was lucky it was the right leg, which is not working too hard in the car.”
Webber faces one of the stiffest challenges of his career so far when he returns to the cockpit, paired with the young German hotshoe Sebastian Vettel. Both drivers have insisted that there is no bad feeling between them, despite Vettel s crashing into the back of Webber in Japan in 2007 when the Australian had a chance of winning the rain-soaked Grand Prix.