Maria de Villota found dead in hotel room [split]

RIP to Maria, very tragic death considering what happened to her. 

I have a question though, her family is saying, that she passed away while she was sleaping. Did she suffer much? I can't image how it'd be like to have a stroke while asleep?!

I think she had already suffered enough before yesterday mate.

She's gone, leave it there.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be disrespectful in any way.

Poor girl. She looked like a good person. Sad these things happen to good people, we all die, but an accident like this and sequels delaying your passing one year is cruel.

Rest in peace

Very sad news, RIP.

I think sometimes people's curiosity about te circumstances, probably to help you get your head around it, can come across as callous and uncaring.
This is amplified by the trickiness of electronic communication and people of non English speaking backgrounds.

I think it would be safe to assume no one is being a dick intentionally just trying to make sense of a strange situation. Let's not get bogged down in bickering over it just yet

RIP threads go the same way everywhere. There's a certain percentage of every forum that thinks asking about anything they don't want to know themselves is disrespectful.

Edited by Andrew Hope, 12 October 2013 - 14:28.

In many ways, I'm quite glad we've now got official confirmation of death. At least it stops the internet experts who were saying it must have been suicide...

Rest assured there will be serious consequences as a result her untimely death. I can't remember the exact date of the accident but under UK law any death occurring within a year and a day of an accident MUST be referred to the Coroner. This in turn will have implications for the Health and Safety prosecution because it looks more and more like at the Duxford test people turned up to work but no-one was doing their job.

Edited by Petroltorque, 12 October 2013 - 15:24.

Rest assured there will be serious consequences as a result her untimely death. I can't remember the exact date of the accident but under UK law any death occurring within a year and a day of an accident MUST be referred to the Coroner. This in turn will have implications for the Health and Safety prosecution because it looks more and more like at the Duxford test people turned up to work but no-one was doing their job.

The crash was on July 3 last year.

Very sad news.

Yeah. So, so tragic. She really was an inspiration and had some great personal enlightment to share. What a tragedy. So sorry for her family...  **** happens, it really does.

im yet to see an official response from Marussia.......

im yet to see an official response from Marussia.......

Marussia: 'It is with great sadness that we learned a short time ago of the news that Maria de Villota has passed away.      Our thoughts and prayers are with Maria’s family and friends at this very difficult time.'

From: Drivers and teams pay tribute to Maria de Villota (F1Fanatic)

cheers bud

My apologies for suggesting that her death might have been suicide.

You're definitely guilty of jumping to a wrong conclusion, and showing yourself to be more than a touch insensitive.

Edited by MightyMoose, 12 October 2013 - 23:11.
You're defenetly an ignorant moron. Sorry mods, but it has to be said<-- Perhaps, but not your way..

Edited by saudoso, 12 October 2013 - 23:15.

Anyway, the drivers are holding a minutes silence tribute tommorrow, which is nice. I hope the broadcast channels cover it.

That's good. Hopefully they can manage better than they did back in the 2005 London Bombing moment of silence, where most of them were chatting, laughing, and texting. 

Which I think is something that came with the arabs (berber). Not totally sure though but it's something that is done by islamic countries too and most likely the lead for this.

Its to do with the heat in those countries, before refridgeration was invented and tradition has continued.

Anyway, the drivers are holding a minutes silence tribute tommorrow, which is nice. I hope the broadcast channels cover it.

They'll probably do it in the interval between the FOM feed taking over and the formation lap.

She wrote a book called "The Gift of Life", that was going to be published next week. She spent this last year repeating an idea "I had to lose my eye to begin seeing" (I hope that does the same meaning in English than it does in Spanish). In a nutshell, her motorsports career didn't set the world on fire, but her life after her accident did. She was one of those human beings who really made you feel that life was worth living.

Sadly, her last year was lived on borrowed time, but she took the chance to give back every second of it, by becoming more. 

She will be remembered. 

About her initial accident with Marussia, what exactly caused the accident??

Any official report?

Guys, her name is/was 

 

María de Villota Comba

 

and not Maria de Vilotta (not to offend anyone)

 

Let's show some due respect, she was awesome. Not many would have overcome what she suffered, and she did it with a lot of style. She was a pleasure to hear.

 

Her hard work in relation to the safety on the roads was pure class, interesting pieces showing the difference between doing the right things and the wrong ones while driving, we'll miss her.

 

D.E.P.

In all the reports I have seen I have never noticed anyone calling her Maria de Vilotta Comba. I'm not saying you are wrong just that no-one appears to using that name.

About her initial accident with Marussia, what exactly caused the accident??

Any official report?

The HSE UK have yet to publish the results of their investigation.

In all the reports I have seen I have never noticed anyone calling her Maria de Vilotta Comba. I'm not saying you are wrong just that no-one appears to using that name.

Agreed.Guess that was her married name? RIP Maria.Best thing I remember about her was that she was a quicker driver than her brother.

Agreed.Guess that was her married name? RIP Maria.Best thing I remember about her was that she was a quicker driver than her brother.

She only married not so long ago, but I think Comba is her mother's name.

From Wikipedia:
Maria De Villota and her husband Rodrigo Garcia Millan were married on 28 July 2013 in Seville, three months before her death. Rodrigo is a personal trainer, owner of Oxigeno Training.

In all the reports I have seen I have never noticed anyone calling her Maria de Vilotta Comba. I'm not saying you are wrong just that no-one appears to using that name.

In Spain you have two surnames: your father's first surname followed by your mother's first surname. So in the case of María de Villota, she has "de Villota" on her father's side and "Comba" on her mother's side. Had she had children with her husband, Rodrigo García Millán, the children's surname would have been "García de Villota".

Now, those are the official surnames (ie the ones you find on the ID cards, passports, driving licenses, etc). In fact, Spaniards consider that they have a long list of surnames from the combination of their fathers's and mothers's surnames. So in the example I was giving above, María de Villota's children could have said that their surnames were "García de Villota Millán Comba" - and the list could go on and on, depending on how many surnames they remembered. For example, in my case I remember eight surnames (which would correspond to the official surnames of my four grandparents).

Now, even if officially you have two surnames, we ususally shorten them to just the first one when we are not doing official papers, unless the first one is quite common and a second one is needed for clarity. For example, Spain's current PM is known and spoken of as Mariano Rajoy or just Rajoy, even though his full name is Mariano Rajoy Brey; on the other hand, the previous PM's full name is José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, but his name was never shortened to José Luis Rodríguez; even more, he was often referred to as Zapatero (which in fact is his secod surname) instead of Rodríguez because the second surname, being less common, was more specific.

Hope this helps - and sorry about the OT!

Edited by Fontainebleau, 14 October 2013 - 09:56.

In Spain you have two surnames: your father's first surname followed by your mother's first surname. So in the case of María de Villota, she has "de Villota" on her father's side and "Comba" on her mother's side. Had she had children with her husband, Rodrigo García Millán, the children's surname would have been "García de Villota".

 

Now, those are the official surnames (ie the ones you find on the ID cards, passports, driving licenses, etc). In fact, Spaniards consider that they have a long list of surnames from the combination of their fathers's and mothers's surnames. So in the example I was giving above, María de Villota's children could have said that their surnames were "García de Villota Millán Comba" - and the list could go on and on, depending on how many surnames they remembered. For example, in my case I remember eight surnames (which would correspond to the official surnames of my four grandparents).

 

Now, even if officially you have two surnames, we ususally shorten them to just the first one when we are not doing official papers, unless the first one is quite common and a second one is needed for clarity. For example, Spain's current PM is known and spoken of as Mariano Rajoy or just Rajoy, even though his full name is Mariano Rajoy Brey; on the other hand, the previous PM's full name is José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, but his name was never shortened to José Luis Rodríguez; even more, he was often referred to as Zapatero (which in fact is his secod surname) instead of Rodríguez because the second surname, being less common, was more specific.

 

Hope this helps - and sorry about the OT!

Very helpful, thanks! It's one of the nice things to have on an international forum.

In Spain you have two surnames: your father's first surname followed by your mother's first surname. So in the case of María de Villota, she has "de Villota" on her father's side and "Comba" on her mother's side. Had she had children with her husband, Rodrigo García Millán, the children's surname would have been "García de Villota".

 

Now, those are the official surnames (ie the ones you find on the ID cards, passports, driving licenses, etc). In fact, Spaniards consider that they have a long list of surnames from the combination of their fathers's and mothers's surnames. So in the example I was giving above, María de Villota's children could have said that their surnames were "García de Villota Millán Comba" - and the list could go on and on, depending on how many surnames they remembered. For example, in my case I remember eight surnames (which would correspond to the official surnames of my four grandparents).

 

Now, even if officially you have two surnames, we ususally shorten them to just the first one when we are not doing official papers, unless the first one is quite common and a second one is needed for clarity. For example, Spain's current PM is known and spoken of as Mariano Rajoy or just Rajoy, even though his full name is Mariano Rajoy Brey; on the other hand, the previous PM's full name is José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, but his name was never shortened to José Luis Rodríguez; even more, he was often referred to as Zapatero (which in fact is his secod surname) instead of Rodríguez because the second surname, being less common, was more specific.

 

Hope this helps - and sorry about the OT!

Same applies to Alonso by the way (his full Name is Fernando Alonso Diaz) ... and Brazilians have a similar custom of officially keeping both paternal and maternal surnames although generally only using one (Senna was Ayrton Senna Da Silva, Piquet is Nelson Piquet Souto Major) etc etc. Senna's sister is Vivianne Senna da Silva Lalli, Lalli being her husband's surname and that's how Bruno, her son, is also able to be a "Senna" even though Senna is the surname of his maternal grandmother

/OT

Edited by EthanM, 14 October 2013 - 10:08.

Same applies to Alonso by the way (his full Name is Fernando Alonso Diaz) ... and Brazilians have a similar custom of officially keeping both paternal and maternal surnames although generally only using one (Senna was Ayrton Senna Da Silva, Piquet is Nelson Piquet Souto Major) etc etc. Senna's sister is Vivianne Senna da Silva Lalli, Lalli being her husband's surname and that's how Bruno, her son, is also able to be a "Senna" even though Senna is the surname of his maternal grandmother

 

/OT

If I am correct (and it would be great if someone could confirm this point), the difference between Spain and Brazil (and I believe Portugal too) is that children carry first the mother's surname and then the father's surname, but grandchildren inherit the grandfathers's surnames. So in the example we were using with María de Villota, had she been Brazilian her full surname would have "Comba de Villota", her husband's would have been "Millan García", and their children would have been "de Villota García".

Mind you, I am not very sure this is the way it really works in Brazil and Portugal, so any confirmation would be more than welcome!

Very helpful, thanks! It's one of the nice things to have on an international forum.

 

In Spain you have two surnames: your father's first surname followed by your mother's first surname. So in the case of María de Villota, she has "de Villota" on her father's side and "Comba" on her mother's side. Had she had children with her husband, Rodrigo García Millán, the children's surname would have been "García de Villota".

 

Now, those are the official surnames (ie the ones you find on the ID cards, passports, driving licenses, etc). In fact, Spaniards consider that they have a long list of surnames from the combination of their fathers's and mothers's surnames. So in the example I was giving above, María de Villota's children could have said that their surnames were "García de Villota Millán Comba" - and the list could go on and on, depending on how many surnames they remembered. For example, in my case I remember eight surnames (which would correspond to the official surnames of my four grandparents).

 

Now, even if officially you have two surnames, we ususally shorten them to just the first one when we are not doing official papers, unless the first one is quite common and a second one is needed for clarity. For example, Spain's current PM is known and spoken of as Mariano Rajoy or just Rajoy, even though his full name is Mariano Rajoy Brey; on the other hand, the previous PM's full name is José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, but his name was never shortened to José Luis Rodríguez; even more, he was often referred to as Zapatero (which in fact is his secod surname) instead of Rodríguez because the second surname, being less common, was more specific.

 

Hope this helps - and sorry about the OT!

Perfect explanation!  

Dear all, I thought that you would like to read this tribute to Maria de Villota - hope you enjoy it (Google translation with some corrections on my side, any improvements welcome)  http://www.elconfide...ormula-1_41474/

"The first meeting with Maria de Villota and her family went on for over three hours. She had remained quietly in the background, but she came up with that smile that lit up any room, and said, "I want to be a Formula 1 driver." Maria got where she got because she and her family did things well. Nobody gifted them anything.

This is the story of how Maria de Villota earned the respect of Bernie Ecclestone and the Lotus team. Because on her first day aboard a Formula 1, as a driver she left the pavilion high. As a woman, she went all the way to the sky.

It is very common in people who are special to fulfill a dream that in the eyes of others is a delusion. That a woman came to the Formula 1 required more than work and luck. It needed allies, and Maria found them in Bernie Ecclestone. Contrary to what many think, Bernie had no particular interest in getting a woman to Formula 1, he rejected anything that would look like a circus. But when he saw Maria's confidence he changed his mind.

The day we met him, Maria was wearing a blue jacket full of stars. The star of Maria, always the star. Bernie was told of her plans. Not knowing how he would react, at one point during the meeting Bernie told Lucy, one of his assistants: "Tell them to come". We couldn't understand anything.

A few minutes later Lotus Renault's team principal, Eric Boullier showed up in the truck. They (him and Ecclestone) talked for a moment alone and at the end, Bernie told Eric, looking at us: "I want you to give her a test." Eric left the truck and Bernie told us: "He will give you a test because I asked him." He strongly insisted for us to approach it professionally. It would be a secret test. It was not to prove María's worth as a driver, which was beyond doubt, but to see if she could physically and mentally adapt to Formula 1. María was going to get an F1 test at the wheel of a Renault!

She had to train to the maximum. The physical part began working with Gerry Convy, who became a pillar. As an outstanding student, she followed each and every one of the guidelines marked by Gerry. The exercises were much more demanding than what a professional driver is used to do. The first part of the test was physical. María, self-demanding, did not want just to pass the exam. She wanted to get a good grade.

In parallel we designed a training plan working with different cars. Emilio junior, María's brother, was instrumental. The training included everything from simulator to rolling in GP2. María had to find her limits.

Boullier, always elegant and sincere, called and asked me to help with the costs of the test. It was difficult to get sponsors because it would be secret. Again friends, who never fail to be there, came to the call. Both the magazine Hello! and Heliocare understood that this was a unique opportunity and supported María.

Finally the day of physical test came, on July 21, 2011, at the High Performance Centre (HPC) in Enstone. María had her seat made and wore the Lotus Renault overall for the first time. The team embraced her. They were soft in manners, were aware of the tension, but did not make it easy. The test was hard, very hard, and she passed the tests with a remarkably high score. María was in better shape than some of the current F1 drivers.

On August 1, María, Emilio and I went to Paul Ricard for the test. The team made available any cars she wanted to get to know the circuit well. At last the key day arrived, on August 3, 2011. It was all kindness, professionalism and common sense. First Grosjean went out so he could help her with his telemetry. Then it was up to María. Ayao Komatsu, Grosjean`s engineer, took to the test as a teacher. He was showing her what she had to do at the time, and Maria was a perfect student. When she hit the track for the first time, it looked as if she had spent a lifetime in a Formula 1 car.

Before starting the test, one of the team came to me and said, "Antonio, this will end quickly. In the best case, Maria will endure an hour, this is very hard for a woman. Also, being her first time in a Formula 1 she will be five or six seconds off Romain's time ". Emilio and I were looking at the screens, María was improving batch after batch. There were two sets of tires that did not work well, who knows if María could have improved her times. At the end, she did 300 kilometers. She was less than two seconds off Romain's fastest time, and ended the test so fresh physically that she surprised everyone.

A few days later we received an offer for María to join Lotus Renault GP team as an "official reserve driver" for the 2012 season. It was the best proof of the respect that her performance had earned in Lotus. F1 gives no free lunch to anyone. In mid August 2011 the media worldwide spoke about María's test. The dream was coming true.

The story will closely associate María to the Marussia team, but everyone should remember that day in the Paul Ricard track, and in a proper F1 test. María knew that day she could eventually get her dream come true. That day she earned the respect of a Formula 1 team. When this last weekend we read the tweets in her memory from legends like Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi, when we see the reaction of the world of Formula 1, when we see her star in Alonso and Vettel's helmets, we understand what María achieved.

She worked all her life to achieve a dream and she got there the way dreams get achieved, by turning them into specific goals, taking the right steps, and giving many things up in the process. María de Villota is an example for everyone, but especially for women. She will remain an example, and her star will continue to shine. Rest in peace, María."

Edited by Fontainebleau, 15 October 2013 - 16:40.

What a good way to start appreciating what she did

Just a q, can somebody explain what this terminology means? Her death was caused by a cardiac arrest, caused by a 'detachment of brain mass' due to her crash. Can somebody explain what that means, is it literally a detachment or more figurely?

Maria de Villota's family ends legal action against Manor
 

"The family of Maria de Villota are pleased to say that they have reached agreement in their dispute with the Manor F1 Team following Maria's accident on the 3 July 2012," read the statement.
"The accident happened for a number of reasons, one of which was that a lorry was parked in the pit area with its tail lift projecting, for which Maria was not at fault.
"Once again, the family wishes to say thank you to all the fans, friends and others that have supported Maria before and during her career, particularly those who did so after the accident.
"Also to all those who today continue remembering her with her happiness and smile taking care of those most in need."
A spokesperson for Manor was quoted in the statement as saying: "It was a tragic accident which shocked the team and all who knew her. She is sorely missed."

Thanks for posting that, Sophie. I think I might have missed the headline on the front page.

Me too-I subscribe to Autosport;but have just found a whole lot of other info'One thing that still has me baffled-report refers to 'accident in pit lane' shorley this was a test at a disused airfield,not a race circuit-did it have a 'pitlane?

4 years since Marias death-RIP Maria.

Me too-I subscribe to Autosport;but have just found a whole lot of other info'One thing that still has me baffled-report refers to 'accident in pit lane' shorley this was a test at a disused airfield,not a race circuit-did it have a 'pitlane?

4 years since Marias death-RIP Maria.

Yes I think it was an error in the article. Her accident happened at Duxford Aerodrome not a "pitlane" anywhere, but that's neither here nor there really considering that the crash had such a tragic outcome. Glad that the family have managed to get an outcome they are happy enough with to stop the legal action. Hopefully they can now (as the American's say) "move on."

RIP - Maria