Wehrlein suffered "compression fracture of a neck vertebrae" in crash

Toto Wolff has revealed that fellow German Pascal Wehrlein broke a bone in his neck in his crash at the Race of Champions in Miami over the Winter.

The injury resulted in Wehrlein being unable to train for much of the off-season as his rivals stepped up their training programmes.

"In the accident in Miami, Pascal sustained a compression fracture of a neck vertebrae," the Austrian explained.

"He is lucky not to have hurt himself further, but he could hardly move for several weeks and had to wear a support. During this time, of course, he could hardly train, which is why he was simply not strong enough to drive these cars over a race distance," added Wolff.

The German took the decision to withdraw from his first race weekend as a Sauber driver following the Friday practice sessions in Melbourne, prompting the team to bring in Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovanazzi.

In an interview with German broadcaster RTL, Mercedes driver development head Wolff revealed that although Wehrlein will sit out this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, he will return for the next round in Bahrain.

"We decided to give Pascal a break with ten days of additional training," 

"But I'm assuming that he will be in the car in Bahrain".