Mark Webber has defended his decision not to inform his team about the shoulder injury which it is claimed compromised the final races of his season.

Earlier this week, Webber revealed that as a result of a cycling accident during the break - no pun intended - between the Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix, he incurred a fracture in his shoulder. While he didn't inform his team, the Australian did tell Gary Hartstein the FIA's medical delegate and was subsequently given injections of cortisone.

Other than accusations of playing for sympathy on losing the title fight - he was leading the championship at the time of the accident - Webber has been criticised for not informing his team and also for jeopardising his own championship hopes.

However, in Q&A session for his personal website, the Australian attempts to explain the facts and put the matter to bed.

"A little bit of information can be a dangerous thing!" he began, referring to the media reaction to the original revelation. "I came off a mountain bike while training between the races in Singapore and Japan, and an x-ray revealed a small fracture to my right shoulder. I was very confident it wouldn't affect my performance in the car, which is why I didn't tell anyone."

Asked if he regretted not informing his team, Webber replied: "There was no need. The shoulder wasn't causing me a problem, so there was no need to talk about it to anyone. If I'd had any issues with it in the car, then of course I would have told the team. But that wasn't the case. I've never missed a Grand Prix but of course if I couldn't drive the car a) safely and b) on the limit, I would have notified the team."

Asked about the cortisone injection, Webber said: The injection was an absolute precaution. It was the first time I was going to do more than 50 racing laps, plus qualifying that morning, so I took what was the best medical advice for race day.

"Many people will be aware that shoulder injuries can be complex," he added, "but I was lucky this mishap didn't affect my main line of work. In that sense, that was the most important thing to me."

Referring to media claims that since the end of the season he has had an operation to repair his shoulder, Webber said: "No I haven't, so I can't imagine where those stories came from. Some people have asked whether the shoulder was the reason I didn't do the Abu Dhabi tyre test in November, but it had nothing to do with it. I was never down to do that test."

Finally, when asked why he felt the need to mention the injury in his book when he is confident that it had no bearing on his performance, Webber replied: "It's what the book is all about. I wanted to give the readers in Australia a closer insight to a sport that's pretty hard for them to follow. I didn't sit down after the season had finished with hindsight goggles on and pick and choose what went into it. We did it at the time after each race. It is something that happened to me, it was part of my journey this season, so that's why it's in there."