Maria de Villota

[Robert Lawson]

I have been following this on Speed.com.

How tragic, she was just getting her feet wet.

The first announcement of this accident had a link to a reporters eye whitness account of what happened. There was a photo of the car 1/2 stuffed under one end of the disconnected transport trailer. It was not at a high rate of speed, maybe 40 mph, but her helmet making contact stopped the car!

The reporter said the car slowed as she approached the "pit". She had to turn hard right (between trailers) to get into the pit spot and the car just suddenly accelerated as it turned and ran into the trailer.





This from SPEED.com:


Marussia says that Maria de Villota is in a “critical but stable” condition after undergoing surgery on Wednesday.

Team principal John Booth confirmed the sad news that she has lost her right eye as a result of Tuesday’s testing accident in the UK.

“Subsequent to yesterday’s official statements from the Marussia F1 Team, the surgical team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge embarked on a lengthy procedure to address the serious head and facial injuries sustained by Maria in the accident,” said a team statement. “The operation began yesterday afternoon, and she was in theatre until this morning. Maria remains in a critical but stable condition.”

Meanwhile, Booth said: “Maria emerged from theatre at Addenbrooke’s Hospital this morning after a lengthy operation to address the serious head and facial injuries she received in the accident at Duxford Airfield yesterday.

“We are grateful for the medical attention that Maria has been receiving, and her family would like to thank the Neurological and Plastics surgical teams. However, it is with great sadness that I must report that, due to the injuries she sustained, Maria has lost her right eye.

“Maria’s care and the well-being of her family remain our priority at this time. Her family are at the hospital and we are doing everything possible to support them.

“We ask for everyone’s patience and understanding with regard to updates on Maria’s condition. We will provide further information when it is appropriate to do so and with consideration for her family.

“In the meantime, we would all like to take this opportunity to praise the emergency services at Duxford Airfield, who were on standby yesterday, as is usual procedure for a Formula One test.

“With regard to the accident, we have embarked on a very comprehensive analysis of what happened, and this work continues for the moment.

“Finally, we have been overwhelmed by messages of support for Maria, her family and the team, and we would like to express our sincere gratitude for those.”





This was the latest report:




Spain's motor racing federation has vowed to help get to the bottom of the incident involving seriously injured female test driver Maria de Villota.

But Carlos Gracia, president of the RFEdA, expressed caution in light of rampant speculation following the 32-year-old Spaniard's impact with a team truck while 'straightline testing' Marussia's 2012 car in the UK on Tuesday.

De Villota is currently in hospital with reportedly "severe facial and head injuries."

Amid some reports she was fighting for her life and unconscious for a long time after the morning incident, Marussia confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that di Villota was conscious in hospital.

"Right now, the only important thing is the health status of Maria, and in this sense we call for the greatest prudence and respect," Gracia told the Spanish sports newspaper AS.

"We have heard lots of things in the last hours but there should not be speculation about something so serious."

Reports in Spain said de Villota underwent emergency surgery for a skull injury, thereafter regaining consciousness and the ability to move her limbs.

"I have direct information from the family and now we can only say that it will take longer before we have an accurate forecast," Gracia added.

He did reveal, however, that his officials have already commenced efforts to understand the circumstances of Tuesday's accident.

"We have asked the FIA to open up all the information to know what has happened in this test," he said.

"We also want the Marussia team to offer its version of events," added Gracia.

"I insist that now the main thing is Maria's recovery, but we also need to know what has happened, especially for the necessary measures so that something like this is not repeated."

Writing in the Telegraph, Tom Cary repeated speculation that the incident was caused by inexperienced di Villota being caught out by the Marussia's anti-stall system.

But another British journalist, the Times' Kevin Eason, said the crash had "baffled Marussia team executives."

He also said de Villota "was well enough last night" to phone her father Emilio, a former F1 driver.

[Curt Smock]

obviously pulling for her but I was quite surprised to see that a 32 year old was an F1 test driver

[Jim White]

I'm sure she was hired mostly for the publicity.
That being sad it's sad when any racer is injured doing what we love. Initial rumors I heard were that it may be related to the anti stall device. Whatever type electronic device that may be. Could be she was just unfamiliar with it and it caught her out.

[Gene Heagney]

From one of the pictures I've seen, I guess the lift gate (loading ramp) to the hauler was left down pretty much right at visor level. So the front of the car basically submarined under the lift gate and didn't stop until it got to her helmet.... Freak accident. Should be plenty of lessons learned from this. Unfortunate that it had to happen though.