Marussia F1 reserve driver Maria De Villota dead at 33

Filed under: Motorsports, Europe



Maria De Villota, the 33-year-old, Spanish Formula One driver and current reserve driver for Marussia F1, was found dead in her Seville, Spain hotel room early this morning. Police believe that it was a natural death, although local forensics and homicide units were on the scene to rule out all possibilities, according to a report from BBC Sport.

De Villota was the daughter of former F1 driver Emilio De Villota, and has been involved in a number of both open- and closed-wheel racing series, ranging from the Grand-Am Series to F1 feeder championships in Europe. She made headlines in July of 2012, when she was involved in an accident with a parked truck while testing Marussia's F1 challenger. The near-fatal accident nearly ended De Villota's career, as doctors were forced to remove her right eye.

De Villota's family said in a statement, "Dear friends: Maria is gone. She had to go to heaven with all of the angels." Tributes to De Villota have been paid from a number of figures in F1, including countryman Fernando Alonso, who issued a statement saying, "Today is a very sad day for Spanish sport. We have lost a fighter with a huge smile."

Plans are already in the works to honor De Villota at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, with McLaren principal and president of the Formula One Teams' Association, Martin Whitmarsh, telling the BBC, "We will be talking amongst ourselves." Whitmarsh added, "Everyone wants to demonstrate the right level of sympathy but the real racers would want the show to go on and wouldn't want a fuss to be made. It's not something we need to amplify, it's something we've got to be sensitive about."Marussia F1 reserve driver Maria De Villota dead at 33 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 Oct 2013 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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