Maria de Villota 1980 - 2013

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iceman1
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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by iceman1 » 04 Jul 2012, 15:40

Kevin Clark wrote:Sad but at least she's alive.

I wonder too if there will be questions about employing someone on the basis of ability or publicity.
But she tested a Lotus-Renault last year and her times were Okay. Something strange happened here, it has nothing to do being a female or male.

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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by KevC » 04 Jul 2012, 15:44

I didn't say it was, but looking at her career record and age there's nothing remarkable about her compared to many other test drivers. She didn't even have (or qualify for) a super license so you have to wonder about the validity of employing her and whether she was suitable for the role. Now it may be that it was a car fault but also it may be that it was driver error. We don't know yet.

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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by ourafilmes » 04 Jul 2012, 16:36

What a terrible day for her! Her racing career is gone with a slow speed "pit" crash...
And she lost 50% of her vision and, maybe, life scars/limitations...
But it seems to me that, maybe, she turned off the pit limiter or something like that! It is very difficult to be an accelerator problem! I guess...

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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by François » 04 Jul 2012, 16:46

Very bizarre and unfortunate accident. It's always sad to hear about career-ending injuries, no matter the sport. I hope she'll soon be out of danger at least, and that some light on how the incident happened will be shed.
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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by MavF1 » 04 Jul 2012, 17:13

Not only is it a career-ending injury, it's a life-changing one. Just imagine how she must feel when she wakes up. What was supposed to be one of the best days of her life turned into probably her worst in just a few seconds. Horrible.

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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by donald29 » 04 Jul 2012, 20:19

It's sad, she seemed so happy to be at Marussia. Like has been said we don't know the cause of the accident but whatever it was she had shown nothing in her career to warrant an F1 test driver role. She shouldn't have been in that car. Terrible end to an F1 career that never should have existed.

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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by Ferrariman60 » 05 Jul 2012, 00:31

We can bicker all day about this, that, and the other thing, but I think the really amazing thing so far from all of this is that she has survived at all. Think about what happened here and the forces involved with that impact. Yes, her injuries are frightening and yes, her career is basically over, but, I think tribute is due to the helmet design. As we saw with Massa in 2009 and now with María, I believe that today's helmets have made these kinds of accidents have much more favourable outcomes than they perhaps would have not so long ago. Yes, improvements should still be made, but there's little doubt that a life has been saved by some smart design.
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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by rising » 05 Jul 2012, 04:50

Very sad to hear that she lost an eye

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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by JoostLamers » 05 Jul 2012, 07:37

Was it something with the anti-stall system? Very strange indeed, wasn't she aware of it?

My thoughts are with her
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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by KevC » 05 Jul 2012, 10:13

Anti stall pulls in the clutch so I'd be surprised if it was that.

The good thing is that there's so much telemetry on the cars these days that they should know what it is.

I just hope there isn't a knee-jerk reaction to add front roll bars etc. This was a freak accident caused by several unusual factors and not an inherent safety fault in car design.

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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by Ali » 05 Jul 2012, 16:27

Kevin Clark wrote:Anti stall pulls in the clutch so I'd be surprised if it was that.

The good thing is that there's so much telemetry on the cars these days that they should know what it is.

I just hope there isn't a knee-jerk reaction to add front roll bars etc. This was a freak accident caused by several unusual factors and not an inherent safety fault in car design.
And how would that change your perception of Formula 1 and racing if that thing will be useful to prevent such a "freak" accident that might have been occured in the future?

Reactions against the knee-jerk reactions is in fact a knee-jerk reaction itself. Why?

Formula 1 cars are as safe as it could have been, yes. Racing is inherently dangerous, yes. However, if there is a small chance of improvement, even the tiny bit of progress towards more safety, why wouldn't that be used or considered? How in the whole wide world could possibly change the very essence of Formula 1, which is racing. Safety is the very reason why we enjoy it.

In this case, there seems to be nothing we can do. It was almost impossible to foresee such a horrible accident, but we may think. We may think over and over again. Perhaps, we could find a way in future that will enable us to prevent such freak incidents.

There is no such thing like excessive safety.
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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by Ferrariman60 » 05 Jul 2012, 16:34

I agree that there is "no such thing" as excessive safety, but in this circumstance, there was no way to forsee that this could have occurred. Could we say that perhaps the team were a bit irresponsible in keeping that truck parked so closely to the pit area? Maybe. Could we say that María should have been briefed more extensively on the car's systems? Maybe. In the end, I think this quote from caranddriverthef1.com sums it up quite well at this time:

"...[la] situación del camión y cualquier opinión no se ajustaría a la realidad" (the situation with the truck and whatever other opinion would not change the reality (of the current situation with María).
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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by iceman1 » 11 Jul 2012, 19:08

Maria de Villota is no longer under sedation for her injuries :)

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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by SpliT » 16 Jul 2012, 10:21

Sky Sports says: Marussia investigation into Maria De Villota's crash 'excludes car as a factor in the accident'. :blink:

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Re: Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Post by iceman1 » 16 Jul 2012, 10:26


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