Maria de Villotta injured in testing

[Fil]

This website displays a good graphic of the location of all that went on..

http://www.marca.com/2012/07/04/multime ... 98535.html

[FrukostScones]

This website displays a good graphic of the location of all that went on..

http://www.marca.com/2012/07/04/multime ... 98535.html

don't believe a sports tabloid graphic

[aral]

I cannot understand this accident and can't see it being anything other than driver error, a total foul-up on the team's part or both.

I guess this might be a consequence of allowing tin-pot outfits like Marussia into Formula 1 who have to pull publicity stunts with drivers.

It is grossly unfair to the poor girl, to say that it was driver error, until such a time as a full investigation is carried out.
And it wasn't a publicity stunt, it was a straight line test. Something that is fully legal and understandable.

[Raptor22]

The investigation will find the root cause I'm sure. Asit happened on an active airfield there will be an MoD investigation as well.

I'm not too interested in whether it's her fault or not. f1 cars are complicated beasts and its entirely conceivable than there was a clutch control failure or other elelctrnic failure that prevented her from steering, braking or executing other actions. if could also be panic set in, I don't care because thats in thee past.

The future will be based on what is learned from the accident and no accident should be looked at in isolation. It took the aviation community a long time to learn this little trick but since then many more underlying challenges have been identified and mitigated due to dropping a knee jerk approach, looking at trends in accidents and then go looking for a real problem and solve it.

Historically, accidents in F1 has shown that the drivers head is the most vulnerable part of his body. We';re asking a crash helmet to safe a life in isolation when we have multiple safety layers for the resr of their body. Thats pretty daft.
God speed to her and I'm sending positive karma to aid a recovery to a more or less normal life.

[ESPImperium]

Id like to see theese straightline days, whitch each team has 4, being banned and a rule that each team can stay behind at one or two of the Euro GPs for a Monday with a Developmental/Young driver. Teams can trade theese days for 2 days full size in the tunnel.

I think the straightline days will soon be gone in F1 after this accedent and with the re-introduction of another in season test in the summer.

I do hope that Maria gets well soon!!!

Maria was at the head of a drive to get more women drivers into F1, she and Susie Wolff were the ones being used to get FP1 drives next year from what i am aware. Also the FIA are trying to get Carmen Jorda, Viki Piria and Alice Powell into GP2 in the next 2 seasons and into a F1 developmental drive as well. The last woman before Maria to drive a F1 car prior to her driving the R29 last year at Le Catellet and Barcelona was Katherine Legge who drove for Minardi for 3 days in 2005.

I hoipe this dosne dampen the spirits of young women with a dream of driving or racing a F1 car some day.

[Just_a_fan]

The investigation will find the root cause I'm sure. Asit happened on an active airfield there will be an MoD investigation as well.

Duxford is no longer a military airfield - the MoD sold it in 1977. It's owned by the Imperial War Museum (a civilian organisation) and has a civilian license for daytime flights only.

I would think that there will be investigations by the team and the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) and possibly by the FIA. If the HSE find that someone was negligent then they could take a prosecution for breaches of health and safety legislation.

[munudeges]

It is grossly unfair to the poor girl, to say that it was driver error, until such a time as a full investigation is carried out.

I'm afraid whether anyone likes it or not it is a strong possibility, as well as incompetence on behalf of the team. She simply isn't particularly experienced. This was a weird accident and one that shouldn't have happened and you can draw that conclusion before any investigation is carried out.

And it wasn't a publicity stunt, it was a straight line test.

They could have got one of their regular drivers to do it, but they didn't.

[jdlive]

I have thought about it and ya know...The bottom line is that she drove into a parked vehicle that she knew was there.
I'm sorry she got hurt, man facial disfigurement and a lost eye for an attractive woman is even worse, but, it was driver error. It's really really too bad, but I think it falls into her laps and the stuff happens file.
I'm sorry if that seems cold...I wish her the best and a speedy recovery.

This is honesty, not cold.

[Petroltorque]

Even if this accident was due to driver error as a result of inexperience Marussia has a duty of care to its personnel to ensure their safety.
I would also question the wisdom of having the support truck within the confines of the track. I'm certain Marussia have enough data to say exactly what caused this debacle. Their silence on the matter speaks volumes.

[Websta]

This was a freak and terrible accident and I don't see how you could reasonably find Maria to have been at fault. I wish her the best for her recovery.

[grano123]

This was a freak and terrible accident and I don't see how you could reasonably find Maria to have been at fault. I wish her the best for her recovery.

Time will show the 100% facts on what actually happened.......be it reasonable or not that it could have been the driver's fault, equipment malfunction, mismanagement, etc. The facts will show what is a reasonable deduction of what took place and not supposition by people on a forum.

Until such time as and when the full details are released, the asinine comments by people should stop. Accidents happen in life in every single facet of human daily life...............it is what it is. Can each and every accident be avoided by some kind of regulation changes? Absolutely not. Should we stop doing anything that carries a risk of any sort and live in a protected bubble all out lives? Also, absolutely not.

[Nando]

I´d say driver error, she has spun cars in a straight line before so crashing one while turning doesn´t seem that far off the norm.

Can´t say i have any remorse if it was a driver error either, an old friend of mine got shot 6 times in the face just last night so she should be lucky she lives.

[Pup]

This thread is going nowhere fast.

[andartop]

Some of the posts in this thread are really useful and informative. Really proud to be part of this forum.

[Pup]

Some of the posts in this thread are really useful and informative.

I'd be interested to know which ones those are.