De Villota suffers ‘severe face and head injuries’

Maria de Villota suffered “severe” head and face injuries in her Marussia testing crash on Tuesday.

Reports have said the female driver’s accident, that occurred when the 2012 car accelerated mysteriously on approach to the makeshift pits at Duxford airfield at the start of an aerodyamic test day, caused life-threatening injuries.

BBC Cambridgeshire presenter Chris Mann described how Spaniard de Villota, 32, struck the loading board at the back of a large articulated truck “at helmet level”, her head taking the brunt of the estimated 50mph impact.

Audio of the incident depicted team members saying: “Jesus Christ. F**k — get the ambulance. We need an ambulance.”

Mann said de Villota was apparently unconscious for 10 or 15 minutes, and photos show the truck loading board at the Marussia cockpit, at visor-level.

Sky Sports F1 was on site with a small filming crew.

“We were all asked to leave about 20 minutes after the accident had happened — she was still in the car,” said assistant producer Helen Brown.

“Obviously the team looked quite upset,” she added. A photo shows team members hugging one another.

Emergency medical charity Magpas said they treated de Villota for “severe facial and head injuries” before she was transported to hospital.

The statement said de Villota was given pain relief and was put into an ambulance in a stable condition, according to CNN.

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