Former formula one Marussia test driver Spanish Maria de Villota gives a press conference in Madrid on October 11, 2012. Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty
Former Formula One test driver Maria de Villota was found dead in a hotel room in Seville on Friday, of natural causes according to police. She was 33.
Spanish police told SWARABANGSA.BLOGSPOT.COM that De Villota was discovered in the Hotel Sevilla Congresos in the morning, dead "apparently from natural causes."
Police said De Villota's manager alerted the hotel staff. Investigators "did not find any drugs or signs of violence" and "everything points to a death by natural causes."
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.
Her family used De Villota's Facebook page to say "Dear friends: Maria has left us. She had to go to heaven like all angels. I give thanks to God for the year and a half that he left her with us."
F1 drivers and officials at the Japanese Grand Prix were stunned by her death.
"The whole paddock is very shocked by the news that Maria is no longer with us," McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said speaking as the chairman of the Formula One Teams' Association. "She was an inspiration not just to women in this sport, but also to all those who suffered life-threatening injuries."
Sauber's Monisha Kaltenhorn, the first female team principal in F1, said, "If anybody represented strength and optimism, it was Maria. Her sudden death is a big loss to the motorsport world."
Like a coach or manager, a team principal oversees the operations of their F1 team.
De Villota, a Madrid native, was the daughter of Emilio de Villota, who competed in F1 from 1976-82.
De Villota also had driven in the world touring car championship in 2006 and 2007 plus the Superleague open-wheel series.
She was in Seville to participate in the conference "What Really Matters," whose mission is to inspire and teach young people "universal human values," in the words of the organizers.
Organizers canceled the conference on receiving news of her death and issued a statement "transmitting their care and support to the family and loved ones of Maria de Villota."
De Villota's almost fatal accident in July 2012 occurred while she was driving an F1 car for only the fourth time -- and first for Marussia -- and hit a support truck during a straight-line exercise near an airfield in England. An internal team investigation concluded the car was not at fault.
She first drove an F1 car in 2011, a Renault at the Paul Ricard circuit in Marseille, France.
Her death comes when De Villota appeared to be moving past her accident.
She told Hola magazine in February she felt "free" and "back to being me" after returning to driving on normal roads.
She returned to a F1 paddock for the first time in May at the Spanish GP. There she told the AP that she felt a mix of "adrenaline and also a little bit of sadness" on again being near the sport that almost cost her her life.
In July, she married boyfriend Rodrigo Garcia. She was active in charity work and a member of the FIA's women's commission.
Al Jazeera and SWARABANGSA.BLOGSPOT.COM
De Villota had recently been publicizing a book, "Life is a Gift," detailing her ordeal following her driving accident. The book is due to be released on Monday.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar