Sauber 'never concealed extent of Wehrlein injuries'

© Twitter.com/Pwehrlein

Pascal Wehrlein has defended the way that he and the Sauber F1 squad dealt with his recent back injury.

The German driver was sidelined for the first two races of the season. He sustained a compression fracture of a neck vertebra in a crash during the Race of Champions in January.

Wehrlein arrived in Australia for the season opener, only to pull out citing a lack of time to get race fit. His place in Melbourne and Shanghai was subsequently taken by Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi.

Paddock speculation was rife that Sauber had done a backroom deal with Ferrari to give their junior driver some early Grand Prix experience. But this week Wehrlein shared photos on Twitter to prove just how his injuries had been.