Former Formula One test driver Maria de Villota dies

A year after almost losing her life
behind the wheel of a race car,
former Formula One test driver
Maria de Villota was found dead in a
hotel room in Seville on Friday.
Spanish police told The Associated
Press that investigators did not find
any drugs or signs of violence and
"everything points to a death by
natural causes." De Villota was 33.
The police spokesman spoke on
condition of anonymity in line with
police policy.
De Villota's manager alerted staff at
the Hotel Sevilla Congresos. 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.
De Villota, a Madrid native, was the
daughter of Emilio de Villota, who
competed in F1 from 1976-82.
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 officials and drivers at the
Japanese Grand Prix were stunned
by her death.
"My deepest condolences go to the
De Villota family," said FIA president
Jean Todt. "Maria was a fantastic
driver, a leading light for women in
motorsport and a tireless
campaigner for road safety. Above
all she was a friend I deeply
admired."
McLaren team principal Martin
Whitmarsh said as the chairman of
the Formula One Teams' Association
the "whole paddock is very shocked
by the news that Maria is no longer
with us.
"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."

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