Marussia has concluded that its car experienced no malfunction when María de Villota suffered a freak accident at Duxford Airfield earlier this month. This suggests that driver error could be the cause of the crash which resulted in the 32-year-old Spaniard losing her right eye and enduring serious head and facial injuries.
The incident happened just under two weeks ago, on Tuesday 3 July, when de Villota – who was in her fourth F1 car outing but driving the Marussia chassis for the first time – struck a stationary support truck following a run for aerodynamic testing. With the loading tray of the lorry having pierced the helmet visor, the team reserve driver narrowly escaped death and continues to recover in a Cambridge hospital.
‘The Marussia F1 Team conducted an initial analysis immediately after the crash,’ reads a statement published on Monday. ‘This aimed to identify the causes and contributory factors behind the accident…having carefully examined all the data and supplementary information available at that time, the Team were satisfied that there were no such car-related issues and cleared its chassis for race weekend participation.’
“We are satisfied that the findings of our internal investigation exclude the car as a factor in the accident,” adds Team Principal John Booth, who sums up: “We have now concluded our investigatory work and can again focus on the priority, which continues to be María’s wellbeing. In that regard, we continue to support María and the de Villota family in any way we can.”
More updates on de Villota’s physical condition are expected over the coming weeks.
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