Maria De Villota Seriously Injured in testing crash

**F1boat** · 7th Jul 12, 12:56

A very sad accident and this thread is not the place for forum wars. I hope that Maria will recover.

**Mr Alca-Tazizzle** · 7th Jul 12, 19:00

Fernando Alonso:

I want to dedicate this pole to Maria de Villota, who is going through a particularly difficult time. We are all feeling sad these days and our thoughts are with her and her family

Class act

**Triumph** · 7th Jul 12, 21:56

I'm so sorry to hear this awful news.

What a terrible thing to happen. I feel so sad for Maria. I hope the surgeons can give her back her looks, if not all of her eyesight.

Let's hope she has the strength to take all of this in her stride and put this terrible event behind her.

:-(

**tannhauser** · 8th Jul 12, 00:05

As a Spanish reader I would like to thank the members of this forum for your manners and politeness and especially for your condolences to Maria.

Since I am Spanish I am logically very worried with this terrible accident, feel awful for the poor girl (huge change, but she has still a full life ahead, though not as elite sport racer, that is clear), and think I got a clear view from this forum about the info known about the accident so far. I have read here almost in all posts knowledge, empathy and kindness.

So please, do not care at all about the black sheep in the group, I did not feel offended at all with any post (at least so far

Some people just hear or read something and instantly act without even considering the possibility of a rational analysis of events. No, it is way easier just to take the torch and begin burning whatever is available at hand…

**Nem14** · 8th Jul 12, 01:57

I was wondering if modern F1 cars have a steering wheel mounted, emergency 'kill' switch, or if a more involved engine shutdown procedure is needed. I know the car has an electrical shutoff switch outside the cockpit for track-side staff use in the event of an emergency.

It's my understanding starting the engine is a rather involved process that requires the assistance of electronics outside the car, like a laptop computer.

**Dave B** · 8th Jul 12, 12:43

NataliePinkham

Amazing news! Maria De Villota is awake and talking to her family and friends

@Marussia_F1Teamabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite

Great news

**pino** · 8th Jul 12, 12:57

Yes excellent news

**airshifter** · 8th Jul 12, 14:11

De Villota 'awake and talking' - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

More in depth on the good news, and also covers some of the initial thoughts on safety.

And though I didn't post it yesterday, class act by Alonso in dedicating his BGP pole.

**ArrowsFA1** · 12th Jul 12, 10:00

More good news:
Maria de Villota out of sedation and talking to her family; recovery 'remarkable' says team - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

**CNR** · 13th Jul 12, 00:48

F1: FIA Wants To Examine De Villota's Helmet
The FIA is interested in the circumstances surrounding Maria de Villota's crash, but won't be launching an official investigation...

The Jean Todt-led federation, however, is interested in the circumstances.

"We want to examine the helmet and know exactly what went wrong," race director Charlie Whiting is quoted as saying

**GaryB** · 16th Jul 12, 08:40

Has anyone noticed how high Maria was sitting in the car? She looked very high, well over regulation height!

**ArrowsFA1** · 16th Jul 12, 12:45

Marussia rules out car failure in Maria de Villota's accident - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

**BDunnell** · 16th Jul 12, 13:36

Originally Posted by ioan

And so nothing will ever be done in this show, which for whatever reason some keep calling sport.
Massa was a step from death, Surtees died, de Villota lost an eye and we have the F1 idiots asking for no actions, no doubt they are afraid that the 'sport' might be losing it's identity if they try to better protect the head of the drivers.
Funny how since Mosley is out the safety of races drivers seems to go nowhere better anymore, as everyone is interested only in the show.

ioan, some time ago you suggested that you would no longer post in the F1 forum after Bahrain. Given the fact that you now actively dislike the sport, that your interest in it is devoid of any real sense of enthusiasm or historical perspective, and that you make yourself look nothing but foolish with statements such as these and others, do you not feel that it's time to actually put your own self-imposed exile into practice?

**wedge** · 17th Jul 12, 00:48

Nothing wrong with the car then it seems the likely cause is driver error?

Originally Posted by BDunnell

ioan, some time ago you suggested that you would no longer post in the F1 forum after Bahrain. Given the fact that you now actively dislike the sport, that your interest in it is devoid of any real sense of enthusiasm or historical perspective, and that you make yourself look nothing but foolish with statements such as these and others, do you not feel that it's time to actually put your own self-imposed exile into practice?

Is there something wrong with commenting on an incident, no matter how much you dislike the sport? Especially regards to safety where its remits strays beyond F1

**BDunnell** · 17th Jul 12, 01:20

Originally Posted by wedge

Is there something wrong with commenting on an incident, no matter how much you dislike the sport? Especially regards to safety where its remits strays beyond F1

I think there is when said commentary amounts, in my view, to trolling.

Anyway, I'm glad some facts have now been outlined, thus putting to rest the more irrelevant speculation, no matter how well-intentioned it might have been.

**Firstgear** · 17th Jul 12, 15:57

Originally Posted by henners88

To be fair our friend hasn't been posting much in the F1 forum lately.

His frequency of intelligent, unbiased posts hasn't decreased one bit.

But back on topic.
I wish Maria a speedy recovery - both physically and mentally/psycologically.

Years ago, a cousin of mine broke/crushed his arm so severely the doctors said they may not be able to save it. His response was that if they had to take his arm, he no longer wanted to live. He was into snowmobiling and boat racing at the time, and couldn't imagine life without those.
People can adapt, be productive, and live happy satisfying lives when thrown all kinds of curve balls in life - if they want to.

I hope Maria can find the mental strength to face her new reality (I don't think she'll be racing competitively any more) in a positive way and has a happy, satisfying future.

**Malbec** · 17th Jul 12, 17:03

Originally Posted by Firstgear

I hope Maria can find the mental strength to face her new reality (I don't think she'll be racing competitively any more) in a positive way and has a happy, satisfying future.

I don't know, if her only neurological injury is the loss of an eye she may well be back in competitive motorsport though the higher echelons would be out of her reach. In time she'll learn to judge distances and gaps with monocular vision and she should be behind the wheel again. Lets just hope that her permanent injuries are limited to her eye.

**Firstgear** · 17th Jul 12, 17:32

Originally Posted by Malbec

I don't know, if her only neurological injury is the loss of an eye she may well be back in competitive motorsport though the higher echelons would be out of her reach. In time she'll learn to judge distances and gaps with monocular vision and she should be behind the wheel again. Lets just hope that her permanent injuries are limited to her eye.

(My bold)
I didn't know that - that's good news. I knew people with vision in only one eye could drive, but I didn't know they'd be able to judge distance well enough to consider competitive motorsport.
Well, lets hope she can make it back to the track then.

**wedge** · 18th Jul 12, 23:09

Originally Posted by Malbec

I don't know, if her only neurological injury is the loss of an eye she may well be back in competitive motorsport though the higher echelons would be out of her reach. In time she'll learn to judge distances and gaps with monocular vision and she should be behind the wheel again. Lets just hope that her permanent injuries are limited to her eye.

Lord Drayson is blind in one eye. He raced in ALMS but needed special dispensation from the FIA to do Le Mans.

**Knock-on** · 21st Jul 12, 12:07

Originally Posted by BDunnell

Anyway, I'm glad some facts have now been outlined, thus putting to rest the more irrelevant speculation, no matter how well-intentioned it might have been.

It really is sad that some people, including those that really should know better, went into 'knee-jerk' mode and immediatly started blaming Maurussia and anyone else without the facts. I know what happened and it was a freak accident caused by a small driver error that cascaded because of a number of facts as I posted just after the accident. The van was nowhere near where the car should of been and in a situation such as this straight line test, it would not be unresonable to have the tail at half height to aid access to the cargo bay. It could have easily been the side of a building or edge of a compressor or anything else.