Maria de Villota found dead in hotel room

I'm relieved she didn't take her own life which is something I thought possible when I first heard the news.
So very tragic. RIP Maria De Villota. So young and gifted.
 
Skeeter said:
Chris, I hadn't thought of that!
Click to expand...

Well its still not an F1 "driver" fatality as such, I say this as she was only a test driver, if we look at this then you'd have to include; Fritz Glatz and John Dawson-Damer whom both died in an F1 car in the 2000's so it would only be 6 years for a fatality in an F1 car, but neither of these three occasions were in a grand prix event, but Id still say the 19 year record stands for an F1 driver to die in a grand prix.
 
They were in historic cars. They were not being used in an F1 sanctioned competition or test.

Maria died due to an accident testing a current F1 car in an official F1 sanctioned test. Its the difference between a death "In F1" and a death "In a car from F1".
 
pimper said:
Well its still not an F1 "driver" fatality as such, I say this as she was only a test driver, if we look at this then you'd have to include; Fritz Glatz and John Dawson-Damer whom both died in an F1 car in the 2000's so it would only be 6 years for a fatality in an F1 car, but neither of these three occasions were in a grand prix event, but Id still say the 19 year record stands for an F1 driver to die in a grand prix.
Click to expand...

An F1 driver in a Grand Prix, yes, but the list of Formula 1 driver fatalities includes Elio di Angelis and Patrick Depailler, who both died as the result of testing accidents.

Also I think it's pretty damn disrespectful to come into Maria's memorial thread and say "Well she wasn't really an F1 driver, was she?" She may never have had a race entry, but she was employed by Marussia to drive F1 cars and when she had her accident they were beginning the process of getting her superlicence to make it possible.
 
What was the original cause of the accident in 2012 - from what I recall reports hinted at driver error without actually coming out and saying it point blank?

(please dont take this on any kind of tangent - literally just out of interest)

RIP Maria
 
That was how I read it. They confirmed it was not a fault with the car, but didn't go any further.

It was a tragic accident either way. I'm not sure if surviving for 18 months might actually have been worse, especially on her family. Its got to be really hard for them.
 
Skeeter said:
That was how I read it. They confirmed it was not a fault with the car, but didn't go any further.

It was a tragic accident either way. I'm not sure if surviving for 18 months might actually have been worse, especially on her family. Its got to be really hard for them.
Click to expand...

What happened was that de Villota's car shot forward and a loading platform that had been left partially lowered hit her head. It was almost certainly a driver error that caused the crash, but if Marussia had been observing proper safety procedures she wouldn't have been injured.
 
Skeeter said:
That was how I read it. They confirmed it was not a fault with the car, but didn't go any further.

It was a tragic accident either way. I'm not sure if surviving for 18 months might actually have been worse, especially on her family. Its got to be really hard for them.
Click to expand...

I would probably go along with that.

JeditOjanen said:
What happened was that de Villota's car shot forward and a loading platform that had been left partially lowered hit her head. It was almost certainly a driver error that caused the crash, but if Marussia had been observing proper safety procedures she wouldn't have been injured.
Click to expand...

I was reading last night that because she was approaching the truck on a bend, the steering wheel was not at its "normal" 9>>3 position and so some lever was obstructed when it wouldnt normally be, which certainly didnt help the situation.

Im not sure of the validity but that was certainly a theory that was put about.

Either way tragic loss, but hopefully she is in peace and she is in a better place.
 
Last edited:
After two successful runs in the F1 car, De Villota was returning to the marquee garage when her front wheels locked when braking.
As the gears were engaged and the car was fitted with engine idle control, designed to maintain revs at about 4,100 rpm to avoid damage, it was essentially "fighting" De Villota and she was "pushed" along the runway into the lorry, the report said.
De Villota pressed a button to unlock the clutch and disengage the gears before the crash, but nothing happened. A gear change from second to first was also rejected by the engine idle control, the documents added.
Click to expand...

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Driver error for locking the brakes, but technical error as the clutch wouldn't disengage. Pretty bad to think she lost her eye from what is essentially failing to stop the car due to engine creep :(
 
I think its one of those cases where there is a chain of failures. Just one needed to have been addressed and it probably wouldnt have happened/be as bad.
 
Sounds like she didn't ask the right questions, and the team didn't tell her everything she needed to know and most stupidly of all, left a loading ramp at head level, rather than fully raised or lowered.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom