Ex-F1 test driver Maria de Villota dies at 33

AP via FOX ^ | 10/11/13 | FOX

[Doogle]

A year after almost losing her life behind the wheel of a race car, former Formula One test driver Maria de Villota was found dead in a hotel room in Seville on Friday.

Spanish police told The Associated Press that investigators did not find any drugs or signs of violence and "everything points to a death by natural causes." De Villota was 33. The police spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity in line with police policy.

De Villota's manager alerted staff at the Hotel Sevilla Congresos. An autopsy will be carried out.

De Villota was seriously injured last year in a crash during testing for the Marussia F1 team in England, losing her right eye and sustaining other serious head injuries that kept her hospitalized for a month.

De Villota, a Madrid native, was the daughter of Emilio de Villota, who competed in F1 from 1976-82.

[Steve_Seattle]

"the car did not accelerate"

The story I read (not the story posted here) - written at the time of the accident, which I read today, said it accelerated. I don't know how you can determine that it didn't accelerate from audio alone. I assume that eyewitnesses said it accelerated. WHY it accelerated is a different question. I just took verbatim what I read in the article.

[Steve_Seattle]

Aren’t comments about “harelips” and “aneurism caused by signing up for Obamacare” and “maybe she was texting” a bit tasteless? This isn’t DU, so why should we fall to their level? This wasn’t even a political person, and probably someone most of us had never even heard of.

[Doogle]

some people are “venting”....I’m in a forgiving mood....*smiles*....I put in on overall “tension”.....let it go..

[Steve_Seattle]

Ok. Last week, we in Seattle had a bad football weekend, and it reflected in my comments on unrelated topics. I went on a couple of rants I later regretted.

[Doogle]

*smiles*...we all have...I just happen to catch this one this time

[Chode]

i know you are going by the article, but a car cannot accelerate without the engine doing so also, and the engine stays at a constant rev till she hit the hauler and stops...

why would they say it's the cars fault? simple... $$$$$

also the car was ruled not at fault from the telemetry in the investigation, that's why there was no money paid out

i wasn't being snarky in my reply, i just followed the crash from the day it happened

[Steve_Seattle]

I was not making a judgment on what caused the car to accelerate, but only that it was reported by witnesses to have accelerated from about 20 mph to 40 mph. I have no stake whatsoever on whether it was a mechanical problem, driver error, or simply unknown.

[hoosierham]

Ignorant means “don’t know”;now stupid means “don’t know and don’t care to find out”.

People who don’t know it if was , ought not toss out the word suicide so easily and often.

Sure I know what the word “may” means;and it is a cheap way to make an unsupported accusation that can ruin someone’s reputation without being held liable.Because you didn’t say it was “x”,only that it MAY be “x”. It is especially cheap if the person accused or slandered is unable to defend himself.I could say a person “may” do or be a lot of unsavory things and that will create a doubt in some minds;pretty much what Democrats do to their opponents every day.

[Betis70]

She was in Seville to promote her autobiography, titled “Life is a Gift”. Every interview suggested she was very, very happy to be alive after her horrific accident.

Watching the F1 coverage of qualifying, and they are reporting she died of a heart attack, natural causes.

[Chode]

FReegards...