RE: Marussia F1 crashes at Duxford
Tuesday 3rd July 2012
Marussia F1 test driver Maria de Villota is in Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge following a crash at Duxford Airfield.
de Villota joined Marussia in MarchThe Spaniard, 32, was completing her first test of the MR-01 at around 9.15 this morning. Chris Mann, a reporter for BBC Cambridge who witnessed the accident, said the car “suddenly accelerated” following an installation run and collided with the team’s support lorry.
de Villota began racing in Spain in 2001Marussia is to release a further statement once De Villota’s medical condition is understood. The injuries sustained are believed to be life threatening, so we will keep you posted as new information comes to light.
Marussia F1 crashes at Duxford
Spanish test driver rushed to hospital
de Villota joined Marussia in March
The Russian team, which originally entered into F1 in 2010 under the Virgin banner, is at Duxford to complete two days of testing. It has so far failed to score any points in the World Championship in just over two seasons.
De Villota joined Marussia in March this year after a previous test drive with Renault. She is the first female to be involved in the sport since Giovanna Amati drove for Brabham in 1992, and has said it was “a fantastic opportunity” to gain experience with an F1 team and advance her career. She is the daughter of Emilio de Villota, who raced in Formula 1 during the late 1970s, and brother of Emilio junior, who has raced in Porsche Supercup and Spanish Formula 3.
de Villota began racing in Spain in 2001
Discussion
Eric Mc said:
Brake accelerator mix up?
Sounds bad - and may call into question testing at non-circuit venues.
No, extremely unlikely indeed she is a very experienced racing driver. Sounds bad - and may call into question testing at non-circuit venues.
It wasn't during the actual test that it happened but when she was manuovering at relatively slow speeds and as such was freak accident which could have happened anywhere. Absolutely no need to have knee jerk reactions of banning testing at non circuit venues.
Emergency medical charity Magpas, which helped to treat Villota at the scene, said she had suffered "facial and head injuries" and was in a stable condition on her arrival at hospital.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshir...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshir...
superkartracer said:
Cretin
+1. Maria de Villota is a very experienced driver. Whilst we're all human and all make mistakes, it is highly unlikely she'd have made this type of error. Very experienced driver and very ready for F1 testing. What seems odd is that the accident happened at slow speed so am wandering what caused the car to speed up? I do hope she has not suffered head injuries to the extent as reported and that this is only headline grabbing journalists. If in collison with truck tail lift this would be the most unfortunate of accidents.
superkartracer said:
Eric Mc said:
Brake accelerator mix up?
CretinF1 cars can be quite complicated and all sorts of things can go wrong when someone is driving one for the first time. It could have been a brake accelerator mix up - instigated by the software rather than the driver. The car apparently shot forward unexpectedly.
It does sound very, very unusual.
Eric Mc said:
superkartracer said:
Eric Mc said:
Brake accelerator mix up?
CretinF1 cars can be quite complicated and all sorts of things can go wrong when someone is driving one for the first time. It could have been a brake accelerator mix - instigated by the software rather than the driver. The car apparently shot forward unexpectedly.
Marc W said:
There are no settings to swap the brake and accelerator at all, the systems are kept completely separate (for obvious reasons) so that is completely impossible.
How about thinking you'd selected neutral when in fact it was still in first? Blip the throttle before cutting the engine and...It sounded like you were taking the piss as she's female..
The steering wheels are complex but the footwell is rather simple and seeing as the brake pedals are huge and under your left foot hard to mix-up as theres hardly room to move, it's also set higher so you can stamp the 70kg force required to stop.
Sounds like a mech failure, hope she's ok, never good to here of these things.
The steering wheels are complex but the footwell is rather simple and seeing as the brake pedals are huge and under your left foot hard to mix-up as theres hardly room to move, it's also set higher so you can stamp the 70kg force required to stop.
Sounds like a mech failure, hope she's ok, never good to here of these things.
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