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Maria de Villota: Driver loses right eye after crash | Maria de Villota: Driver loses right eye after crash |
(40 minutes later) | |
Formula 1 driver Maria de Villota has lost her right eye following a test track crash. | |
She was hurt when the MR-01 race car she was driving hit a support truck at Duxford airfield in Cambridgeshire on Tuesday. | She was hurt when the MR-01 race car she was driving hit a support truck at Duxford airfield in Cambridgeshire on Tuesday. |
It was the first time the 32-year-old Spaniard had driven the car for the Oxfordshire-based Marussia team. | It was the first time the 32-year-old Spaniard had driven the car for the Oxfordshire-based Marussia team. |
Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited the test track on Wednesday. | |
Marussia said surgeons at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge "embarked on a lengthy procedure to address the serious head and facial injuries sustained by Maria in the accident". | |
'Great sadness' | |
It said: "The operation began yesterday afternoon and she was in theatre until this morning. | |
"Maria remains in a critical but stable condition." | |
John Booth, team principal of the Marussia F1 Team, said: "Maria emerged from theatre at Addenbrooke's Hospital this morning after a lengthy operation to address the serious head and facial injuries she received in the accident at Duxford Airfield yesterday. | |
"We are grateful for the medical attention that Maria has been receiving and her family would like to thank the Neurological and Plastics surgical teams. | |
"However it is with great sadness that I must report that, due to the injuries she sustained, Maria has lost her right eye. | |
"Maria's care and the wellbeing of her family remain our priority at this time. Her family are at the hospital and we are doing everything possible to support them." | |
De Villota sustained her injuries after her car "suddenly accelerated" into the back of the support lorry, according to eye witnesses. | |
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire presenter Chris Mann, who saw the accident, said: "The top of her car and her helmet seemed to take the brunt of it. | |
"She didn't move for about 15 minutes." | |
He said De Villota had been driving at up to 200mph during the testing, but the car was travelling considerably slower at the time of the crash. | |
Mr Booth said: "With regard to the accident, we have embarked on a very comprehensive analysis of what happened and this work continues for the moment." |