JULY 3, 2012

Maria de Villota seriously injured in testing accident

Marussia test driver Maria de Villota, the 32-year-old daughter of former F1 driver Emilio, has been seriously hurt in an impact with a support truck after her first run in Marussia's F1 car at Duxford airfield in Cambridgeshire, England.

Marussia test driver Maria de Villota, the 32-year-old daughter of former F1 driver Emilio, has been seriously hurt in an impact with a support truck after her first run in Marussia's F1 car at Duxford airfield in Cambridgeshire, England.

The accident is understood to have happened as De Villota returned to a tented area from which the straightline test was being conducted, after her installation run early on Tuesday morning. Eye witnesses say that the car inexplicably accelerated into the back of the team's parked support truck after initially slowing down.

BBC Cambridgeshire presenter Chris Mann, who was present at the test, the first time that De Villota had driven the car, told Reuters that it was a shocking accident and that "the driver's helmet impacted on the side of the truck."

De Villota's injuries have been described as "life-threatening." A statement from Marussia said: "Maria has been transferred to hospital. Once her medical condition has been assessed a further statement will be issued."