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Why is it that Kimi can get shitfaced regularly and nothing bad happens to him and Mark does something for charity and ends up injured?

Normally takes a good 3 months to recover, or at least has done in the past, which is really going to set him back for next year. But that's if it's a "normal" break. The fact they've pinned it suggests it could be worse. Couldn't have happened in a worse year

It'll certainly make things interesting for RBR now. DC testing?

If DC is the third driver (though I would suggest that in a case of Red Bull being a driver down, there might be some STR/RBR musical seats, with an up and comer getting a Red Bull seat?), it would have been quite funny if he had to take part in the first race since his "last race", if you see what I mean.

There are a number of possibilities. I'd have thought DC would do some of the testing at least. Or maybe they'll sign all 3 of the Toro Rosso competitors

Good news for Bourdais, at least

spotting to the next season he might get some trouble to return to a good pace, so he might me outpaced by Vettel at season beggining, but anyway, he'll get better, the guy is damn strong to recover

Oh, and RoC curse again. Mark was due to race for the first time this year, but will miss it. Button, Johnson, Speed and Colin McRae have all missed it in the last couple of years due to freak accidents

Chris Hoy is going to be there also. It's a shame that the events didn't come in the opposite order since Chris could have given Mark some tips on how to ride a bike.

That's because it is a charity event, all that money goes to charity. Without the entry fee their earnings for the event would be sweet bugger all.

Only just heard about this, took me aback somewhat because something similar but, less serious consequences (suffered a bad head injury but, no broken bones ...) happened to me on my bike over summer. Mark wasn't so lucky and I really feel for the guy having this happen, especially in a charity event for the benefit of others.

Hopefully it will make a few people think about how they drive in relation to cyclists, in my experience most people give little or no practical consideration, because this sort of thing shouldn't be happening ...

Anyway, hope Mark recovers in time for next season and this doesn't set him back too badly ...

get well Mark!

massive advantage to Vettel

Vettel already had an advantage. Webber will get flogged I think.

Get well soon Mark. Of course surgery is no small thing though!

I just hope it (the broken leg) won't have the same effect on Mark as it had on (the promising) Panis in 1997.
I doubt it anyway, since the broken leg was acquired out of the racing car.

Panis broke both, that's what did him in

I know it was a compound fracture but that's still nowhere near as bad as breaking both legs in one go

Panis's issues were in his head, it's not as if his legs lost the ability to press onto a pedal.

Indeed. It was a mental thing for Panis add onto that the shit cars he had to endure its enough to lose any sort of confidence. I mean Schumacher won 5 WDC's after breaking his leg[s]?

My regards to Webber and i wish him a speedy recovery. However, Webber IMO was always gonna get beaten by Vettel. This just gives his fanboys a ready made excuse for 2009 at least.

@OS: Fully agree to an extent about the dangers of cycling. I cycled to school in Years 9-11 50% of the time and the disregard some road users have for them is bloody annoying especially bus drivers in London. That said since driving some cyclists are also idiots. Hovering around in someone's blind spot is a stupid stupid thing to do and that applies to motorcyclists as well. Your just asking for trouble.

You can't say that Brundle and Herbert didn't lose anything because of their injuries, though. Both have walked with a limp since their big crashes

You can't dismiss things like that. Your legs take a lot of force to push pedals on a 200 mph racing car

City cycling is something where the cyclist has a lot of responsibility as well and I'm not a brilliant example (to put it mildly) of how to ride safely in a city, I might as well admit that. Out on the open road however, as long as I keep to the side (and fit my bike with lights), it's the person in the car's responsibility to pass safely, rather than as if I'm not there ... this only seems to happen with HGV drivers who, you'd think would have the most trouble with passing wide and slow but, do it anyway, they're all legends!

The other thing that bugs me is a general misconception that where a motorist can't, a cyclist can see when you shine full beam headlights at them, so it is fine to do so. If they jesticulate at you, they are probably thanking you for illuminating their path ...

I always feel what Panis might have lost could have been career mobility. OK, I don't think there was ever any podiums following his accident, but I don't know whether how much "speed" he lost. He never thumped his teammates again, however his teammates (Villeneuve, da Matta, Trulli), were better than the Ligier brigade (Suzuki, Diniz, Nakano).

So, what I'm really saying is possibly more that the accident in Canada cost him the Ferrari, McLaren, Jordan seat that would have come in 1998.