F1 Marussia driver Maria de Villota in Duxford crash

Could be anything really. Perhaps she fainted for some reason… I don’t suppose this is the sort of situation she expected she would get such serious injuries though! Hopefully she makes a full recovery.

@J Boyle

From the BBC pictures it looked like the truck was sufficiently out of the way. It’s quite an unlikely thing to happen so the positioning of the truck probably isn’t much to fault. The irony is the lift on the truck was probably at her head height in the car for health and safety reasons, since if it was low or flat they might claim it to be a trip hazard to pedestrians!

Sadly it seems like a return to the F1 cockpit is unlikely – Ms de Villota lost her right eye in the accident.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100907

Surely there are better places to drive F1 cars than Duxford.

Most proper racetracks I’ve been to, the transporter would not have been in an area where it could have been hit.

Best wishes to the driver….

In season testing is restricted to straight line aerodynamic testing hence circuits cannot be used. You’ll find airfields are the only places that can be used such as Duxford, Kemble and Elvington. It’s as good as any and has the smooth runway surface and emergency vehicles in attendance.

I happened to be there at the time and very close to the accident and witnessed it, BBC reports about accelerating into the crash are wildly inaccurate at best. It is very evident what happened and no fault of the driver. I’m not going to state or speculate or otherwise and will leave it to the H & S Executive to report.

It was a (relatively) low speed accident, said to be between 20 and 30 miles per hour. The problem was that she hit, at head height, the lowered tailgate of the support truck.

regards,

kev35

I follow, as many of us do, F1 racing,we have seen some horrific crashes where the driver, just walked away, this indicates it must have been one hell of a crash for her to be in a life threatning condition.
Lets hope the Surgeons, and Drs get her through her injuries, and hopefully, we will see her again in the future.
Jim.
Lincoln ,7

http://www.marussiaf1team.com/news/621/team-statement-1500hrs-bst

Teams have been going to Duxford for several years, the runway is in a good condition and allows for straight line high speed aerodynamic testing.

Normally the support vehicles are parked out of the way but the car still has to manoeuvre back to the ‘pit’ area and it sounds like this is when the accident would have happened. Don’t forget the acceleration speeds of the F1 car as well, wouldn’t take much.

Here is to a swift and speedy recovery.

Surely there are better places to drive F1 cars than Duxford.

Most proper racetracks I’ve been to, the transporter would not have been in an area where it could have been hit.

Best wishes to the driver….

C’mon guys…the lady is obviously seriously injured…we can do without some of these comments…not cool 😡

“Strangely, the car suddenly accelerated into the lorry and the car went careering into the side of the loading board.”

Sounds like the missus trying to park.

Not good news hope that her injurys are not as bad as the report suggests. And as I did race brakedown recovery at Thruxton circuit for sixteen years my thoughts are also with those at the incident.

Your last comment is in poor taste, considering her injuries are said to be ‘life threatening’.

Point taken though.

A beautiful lady test driver, she must be saved!