Marussia Test Driver Maria de Villota in Serious Crash

[prisonermonkeys]

Maria de Villota has been injured carrying out a straight-line test of the Marussia MR01, which was intended to check the parts the team is introducing for Silverstone.

 

[Furinkazen]

Maria de Villota has been injured carrying out a straight-line test of the Marussia MR01, which was intended to check the parts the team is introducing for Silverstone.

Sounds nasty, she hit a lorry...

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Oh good god, that sounds nasty - i hope this early report turns out to be worse than it actually was

Having said that, no one crashes as well as Maria de Villota.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt on this one, and assume you haven't seen the article from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire which reports de Villota's injuries as life-threatening.

 

[Jiggins]

Oh my god i hope she is okay, it sounds very serious. We don't need pretty ladies like her, or men for that matter, crashing.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

We don't need pretty ladies like her crashing.

We don't need anybody crashing.

 

[Jiggins]

We don't need anybody crashing.

Yes, as I already corrected seconds after posting.

 

[acjy1985]

Marussia Test Driver Maria de Villota has sustained 'life-threatening' injuries in a testing accident at Duxford, Cambridgeshire. Apparently a full statement will be released later but it seems to have involved a stationary lorry.

 

[PeterJB]

Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-18685789

 

[acjy1985]

Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-18685789

Cheers. I missed that off.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Racecar Engineering thinks it was the anti-stall

http://t.co/9m4C5cQv

 

[acjy1985]

Whatever the reason, let us just hope she recovers quickly.

 

[PAPPACLART]

Hope the guys recovers quickly

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Good news - de Villota was stable on arrival at Addenbrooke's Hospital:

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.

 

[F1 fan]

Sad to hear that. Hope she pulls through.

 

[FahrerGott]

Completely freak accident. Who would leave a transporter ramp in that position?
http://twitpic.com/a3duh9/full

 

[F1 fan]

We don't need anybody crashing.

Thank you. I sincerely hope that the people who posted those insensitive comments weren't aware of the full extent of the situation. If they weren't aware, then no harm done.

Edit: just saw that picture fg. Whoever left that ramp like that was a complete idiot. I am a licensed forklift truck driver, and the first thing my instructor taught me was to not leave the forks in a dangerous position. Instant disqualification if I did.

 

[ZEROX]

Crashing at the back of stationary truck is the same as crashing into concrete wall.
How the heck that can happen?
...and since this happen, i guess FIA will take some note on this.
Hope she recover well.

 

[F1 fan]

How the heck that can happen and since this happen, i guess FIA will take some note on this.
Hope she recover well.

Because an idiot left the loading ramp down. Check the British gp thread for more info and a (thankfully) non-graphic photo.

 

[Furinkazen]

Injuries are lfe threatening but she is stable.

 

[Blitz24]

This is a horrible accident. I'm sure nobody right now is thinking about the race there in Silverstone and they shouldn't be. Prayers are with her. We haven't lost a driver since 1994 Imola I believe.

 

[ZEROX]

Because an idiot left the loading ramp down. Check the British gp thread for more info and a (thankfully) non-graphic photo.

The car don't suffered much damage but that ramp struck her head....
...from what i saw at least.

 

[m8h3r]

Completely freak accident. Who would leave a transporter ramp in that position?
http://twitpic.com/a3duh9/full

She is lucky to be alive. What a moron to leave that like that.

 

[csmeteora9]

Edit: just saw that picture fg. Whoever left that ramp like that was a complete idiot. I am a licensed forklift truck driver, and the first thing my instructor taught me was to not leave the forks in a dangerous position. Instant disqualification if I did.

It's rather worrying how someone like yourself would never forget to remove the forks from a dangerous position; yet these guys who are working for a 'professional' motor racing team have. It raises the question; is the team training their staff correctly? Or is training too expensive for them?

Anyhow I hope Maria recovers and it's good to hear she is now stable.

 

[F1 fan]

It's rather worrying how someone like yourself would never forget to remove the forks from a dangerous position; yet these guys who are working for a 'professional' motor racing team have. It raises the question; is the team training their staff correctly? Or is training too expensive for them?

To be honest, from my (admittedly meager) experience dealing with people in that line of work, after they have their certificates and start working, they get complacent. Of course, this isn't a blanket statement. I'm merely referring to certain people I know of and other like minded people. I wouldn't place any blame on the team here. They have no doubt hired someone with experience and the necessary credentials. Either this was a freak accident or is an example of the complacency I've been talking about.

 

[PeterJB]

Completely freak accident. Who would leave a transporter ramp in that position?
http://twitpic.com/a3duh9/full

Jesus, that could have taken her head off!

 

[csmeteora9]

To be honest, from my (admittedly meager) experience dealing with people in that line of work, after they have their certificates and start working, they get complacent. Of course, this isn't a blanket statement. I'm merely referring to certain people I know of and other like minded people. I wouldn't place any blame on the team here. They have no doubt hired someone with experience and the necessary credentials. Either this was a freak accident or is an example of the complacency I've been talking about.

You're right, that was probably a bit harsh of me. But nonetheless this is a perfect example of why people should avoid becoming too laid back with their work. They begin to miss things and in some cases such as this one, it can cause accidents.

 

[F1 fan]

You're right, that was probably a bit harsh of me. But nonetheless this is a perfect example of why people should avoid becoming too laid back with their work. They begin to miss things and in some cases such as this one, it can cause accidents.

Agreed. Let's hope Maria pulls through this and whatever the outcome, a full investigation is launched.

 

[Famine]

Early reports said she was static and the car suddenly accelerated. One could draw the conclusion that the test had finished and the tail lift was on the way down in order to roll the car onto it to take it away...

 

[Alex.]

She could have been doing a burnout or gunning it for a few feet at the end of a run just for show. I know it sounds rubbish to say but it is possible.

Hope she's okay.

 

[lbsf1]

She could have been doing a burnout or gunning it for a few feet at the end of a run just for show. I know it sounds rubbish to say but it is possible.

Hope she's okay.

Racecar engineering website gave an explanation that sounded plausable.

She was slowing down, look her foot off the throttle so the anti stall kicked in giving a boost of throttle. Racecar engineering says that this often catches out new drivers however not with consequences like this one.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/marussia-suffers-straight-line-testing-crash/