Maria de Villotta injured in testing

[Websta]

It's not a question of whether she could race or not - it's a question of whether racing bodies will allow her to race. They have strict rules regarding vision, typically requiring a minimum visual acuity of 6/9 in both eyes, a peripheral visual field of 200° or better, and functional stereopsis.

Whilst I am well aware of the incredible plasticity of the human brain, it is unable to account for the loss of depth cues - specifically the loss of the oculomotor cues resulting from convergence of eye muscles or the lack of parallax disparity that results from viewing an object from two eyes. Depth perception only requires binocular vision within 10 meters of the visual field - any further and parallax disparity and oculomotor muscle convergence becomes negligible and monocular vision is sufficient. This is why there are successful baseball players and even NFL quarterbacks who have had only one good eye. But try close racing around a street circuit with only one eye (cars within 10m) and this lack of depth perception becomes a serious safety issue.

[aral]

Like I say, it's a disability - but you can't say with certainty that it will be career ending. I don't mean to offer false hope, but I think it's equally premature to write her off from the sport at this point.

As a somewhat related aside, I can tell you that I see better when driving with one eye than two, due to a muscular problem in my eyes that surgery hasn't been able to correct, and so I wear an eyepatch whenever I drive. Yet I would pass any eye exam they gave me using both eyes, simply because it's not something they'd detect if not testing for it specifically. In fact even though I've had this problem since birth, I didn't even know I had a problem until adulthood when my brain decided to call it quits on compensating for it. The point being that an alignment problem isn't that uncommon of an issue to one degree or another, and so it wouldn't surprise me at all if there aren't professional drivers out there who suffer from the same thing, at least in lower formulae, and who probably don't even know it. The problem is that it can actually be worse than having only one eye, because your brain is receiving conflicting info from each eye and has to choose which to believe. But that's probably getting too far off the subject - I just want to emphasize that eye problems in and of themselves aren't as important as how well the individuals brain is able to compensate, and that's why I'm hesitant to call this a career-ending injury for her.

Should you not let the doctors decide on what is best? Without dwelling on the subject of eye disfunction, have you an answer as to how poor Maria would be able to see anything in her right hand mirror, or how to place her car on a right hand bend. When Helmut had his eye taken out by a stone, he was prohibited from driving in F1, so there is a clear precedence.

[Raptor22]

With the kindest of respect, she didn't qualify for a super licence through lack of experience before the accident, why would anyone even begin to think she will qualify for one now is beyond me?

Find me a professional race driver that hasn't had an accident.

I think you missed the point regards the accident.

The absolute bottom line, again with nothing personal against her or being female, but *IF* her prior experience and results merited having a super licence, she would be eligible. She isn't.

The point I was making about the comment that Marussia should now *give her* a couple of F1 race starts as I suppose compensation for the accident, is a ludicrous suggestion in my opinion!

Ok lets get rid of this stupid "superlicense" chat:

from wiki: "To qualify for an FIA Super Licence the requesting driver must already be the holder of a Grade A competition licence, and additionally meet the requirements of the FIA International Sporting Code, Appendix L. These requirements state that the driver must be either the reigning champion in a lower category of motor sport, for example Formula 3 (British, Italian or Japanese championship, or Euro Series), Formula 2, or GP2 Series (formerly known as Formula 3000), or must have consistently finished well in these categories. For example, a driver finishing in the first three positions five times within the last two years in GP2 will be eligible for a Super Licence.
Additionally, drivers who have competed in the IndyCar Series are eligible for a Super Licence if they finished within the first four places of the drivers championship. This allows drivers from the United States domestic series to move into Formula One without first taking part in other FIA sanctioned events. Under exceptional circumstances Appendix L also allows the FIA to award a Super Licence to a driver who does not meet the normal criteria if a vote reveals unanimous agreement by the members, and provided that the driver has completed 300 kilometres of testing at racing speeds in a current car.


SInce she was a 3rd driver or test driver, she does not need to be elligable for a superlicense to operate a F1 car.
I;m not sure how many kilometres she did with Lotus last year but having prior experience of a F1 car and a contract with an existing F1 team would surely qualify her as being competent.

[Pup]

It's not a question of whether she could race or not - it's a question of whether racing bodies will allow her to race. They have strict rules regarding vision, typically requiring a minimum visual acuity of 6/9 in both eyes, a peripheral visual field of 200° or better, and functional stereopsis.

The FIA regulations have a clear path for drivers who lose an eye: 5 years off (I assume that's to allow time to adjust), and then good vision in the remaining eye and a 120° field of vision. She could race again - it would be tough; it would be unlikely; but it's possible.

Should you not let the doctors decide on what is best? Without dwelling on the subject of eye disfunction, have you an answer as to how poor Maria would be able to see anything in her right hand mirror, or how to place her car on a right hand bend. When Helmut had his eye taken out by a stone, he was prohibited from driving in F1, so there is a clear precedence.

It's amazing and sad to me that I get berated by other posters and even the mods for daring to suggest that this woman might be able to rise to this challenge or even that her injury might not necessarily be completely disfiguring. It's amazing that essentially saying 'wait and see - give her a chance' is met with comments like this. You guys seem to want to put her in an infirmary with her face covered from public view for the rest of her life.

Apparently all one is allowed to say is "poor Maria".

[strad]

Competent???
She was their test driver. It wasn't a publicity stunt she was their test driver. There is no question of competency

[Scootin159]

As an FYI - I can confirm that you can drive pretty much anything at speed while only seeing out of one eye. I have a similar eye disease to what Pup described - both of my eyes work just fine, but due to a muscle issue I can't direct both eyes to what I'm looking at (lazy eye). As such, I really only *see* with one eye, and my brain effectively blocks out the *other* eye.

And while I've never driven an F1 car, I have driven many "lesser" formula cars, sedans and karts on various kinds of tracks - and never have I felt my eyesight to be an issue. Sure we're not going F1 speeds, but truth be told, it's not your eyesight that really limits you anyways at those speeds as much as it is your reaction time, your timing and just plain driving skill.

To give you an idea, I've driven a formula car with no headlights or track lighting (just moonlight) around a track at night and been within a second or two of my daylight lap times. As long as you can see your marks (and have track workers watching the track to alert you to debris), you'll be just fine.

As an aside - I've also played QB in football, played basketball, etc. and been just fine (well at least not limited by eyesight). However, I CANNOT play outfield in baseball on a clear day. Cloudy days I'm fine (I can use the juxtaposition of the ball to the clouds), but on clear days I struggle a lot with tracking the ball.

[aral]

It's not a question of whether she could race or not - it's a question of whether racing bodies will allow her to race. They have strict rules regarding vision, typically requiring a minimum visual acuity of 6/9 in both eyes, a peripheral visual field of 200° or better, and functional stereopsis.

The FIA regulations have a clear path for drivers who lose an eye: 5 years off (I assume that's to allow time to adjust), and then good vision in the remaining eye and a 120° field of vision. She could race again - it would be tough; it would be unlikely; but it's possible.

Should you not let the doctors decide on what is best? Without dwelling on the subject of eye disfunction, have you an answer as to how poor Maria would be able to see anything in her right hand mirror, or how to place her car on a right hand bend. When Helmut had his eye taken out by a stone, he was prohibited from driving in F1, so there is a clear precedence.

It's amazing and sad to me that I get berated by other posters and even the mods for daring to suggest that this woman might be able to rise to this challenge or even that her injury might not necessarily be completely disfiguring. It's amazing that essentially saying 'wait and see - give her a chance' is met with comments like this. You guys seem to want to put her in an infirmary with her face covered from public view for the rest of her life.

Apparently all one is allowed to say is "poor Maria".

No one wants Maria to be in an infirmary, and I am sure that all of us wish her a happy and full life, but some of your comments have been cruel, such as saying that she could be attractive with an eye patch.
Your comment about FIA rules are for racing, but NOT the standards required for F1. Apart from that, if Maria was out for 5 years, she would really have to start from scratch again.
Finally, she has far more injuries than just losing an eye, so as I said before, why not let the doctors decide what she will be able to do in the future.
I am glad to see that many, including mods, accepted that some of your comments were unacceptable.

[Pup]

...some of your comments have been cruel, such as saying that she could be attractive with an eye patch.

You have an odd sense of "cruel".

[aral]

[Pup]

I doubt that everyone who's been posting about de Villota's inexperience will be pleased to hear about Justin Wilson having a pretty much identical accident in practice earlier today. The main difference with Wilson's accident is that it's two mechanics and not the driver who are in the hospital.

I blame the team for parking the mechanics so close to the pit box. And also Wilson - you know what they say about British drivers.

Accidents happen.

[marcush.]

I could not agree more .
I would also add david purleys words: more could have been done (to prevent it happening)

I can hardly imagine to lose eyesight, let alone what Maria encountered doing what she loved to do .

[element]

She's driven the car before so why is her competency in question?

Because idiocy is unbounded.

Your are just right, sometimes the level of it still surprises me.

[coaster]

I hope they lock this thread up soon coz it's bringin out all the trolls!

[countersteer]

I "to hear about Justin Wilson having a pretty much identical accident in practice earlier today. The main difference with Wilson's accident is that it's two mechanics and not the driver who are in the hospital.

“I came down pit lane and the car refused to go into neutral," said Wilson. "So I was stuck in first, I couldn’t get neutral, and, on top of that, these carbon brakes don’t work when they’re cold, so was hard on the brakes and I couldn’t stop. At the last second I tried to dive into the wall to take speed off, but those guys were there and had no idea I was coming and even diving to the wall I still hit them. I really hope they are OK.” - Justin Wilson

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ ... -practice/

We don't know what happened to Maria. In Justin's case, he was there to tell what happened. It will all come out in the end. Until that time, it's all speculation.

I'll join everybody in wishing Maria the best recovery possible.

[bhall]

Here's an account of the accident. Actual audio from the accident, including the sound of an apparently "wobbling" engine, is at the end of the video.

Note: Parental guidance is suggested.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyLOmQ434Hs[/youtube]