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[navanman]

Sounds like Vodafone are "reviewing" their sponsorship of McLaren in F1.
Will Buxton with some vague tweets on the subject but says McLaren already have sponsor lined up for 2014 and says the livery of the car will be amazing based on new sponsor.

Edit:
Rumoured to be Coca Cola bringing McLaren back to red and white livery of 80s and 90s.

 

[modulaire]

"Seriously injured" doesn't sound good.

Please be ok.

 

[navanman]

"Seriously injured" doesn't sound good.

Please be ok.

Doesn't sounds good. Air ambulance called for even though road ambulance was on-site.
http://audioboo.fm/boos/871126

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Doesn't sounds good. Air ambulance called for even though road ambulance was on-site.
http://audioboo.fm/boos/871126

Hope she's okay.

 

[brotkasten]

Edit:
Rumoured to be Coca Cola bringing McLaren back to red and white livery of 80s and 90s.

That would be really great. I can't really stand the silver McLaren livery.

Nothing beats the "fixed" F2012 with the classic livery, though.

 

[acm2000]

Reports on BBC that Marussia have had a serious accident when testing their car updates with reserve test driver, Maria De Villota.
Hope all is well as it doesn't sound good at the moment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-18685789

*insert joke about women drivers from the dailymail here* im sure the commenters will be all over this on the dailyfail site

in all seriousness, sounds very odd tho, "suddenly accelerated" into stationary lorry, wonder if computer or driver error, could be pretty nasty depending where she hit it too, fingers crossed all is well

and as a side note, a team like marussia probably wont any many, if any, spares of the new parts yet either, which could upset their weekend.

 

[modulaire]

"Fighting for her life" accoding to the Mirror.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

"Fighting for her life" accoding to the DailyFail.

This could well be the first F1 driver tragedy since Senna as things stand. All the news coming out is on the negative side.

 

[navanman]

_

“At approximately 09.15 BST this morning, the Marussia F1 Team’s Test Driver Maria De Villota had an accident in the team’s MR-01 race car at Duxford Airfield where she was testing the car for the first time. The accident happened at the end of her first installation run and involved an impact with the team’s support truck.

“Maria has been transferred to hospital. Once her medical condition has been assessed a further statement will be issued.”

 

[Juicy Bob]

While this is obviously a very worrying time, I'm going to wait until an official word on her condition before I start to panic. Fingers crossed she's OK.

 

[Mastah]

I suppose it's head injury and that's never good .

 

[Nolan.]

Damn, she seems like such a cool girl too, wow.

 

[Wax Free Vanilla]

Sounds like Vodafone are "reviewing" their sponsorship of McLaren in F1.
Will Buxton with some vague tweets on the subject but says McLaren already have sponsor lined up for 2014 and says the livery of the car will be amazing based on new sponsor.

Edit:
Rumoured to be Coca Cola bringing McLaren back to red and white livery of 80s and 90s.

Lucozade - the orange Mac is back!

 

[jey_16]

Coke Mclaren Mercedes?

Car looks much better in red and white though

 

[Mastah]

I was right, head injury

F1Zone ‏@f1zone

The BBC reporter at the scene says "From where I was standing it looked like the helmet took the brunt of the impact

 

[navanman]

I was right, head injury

Yeah, medical services confirm she has suffered life threatening injuries.

An f1 car is so low that it could strike the bottom of the frame of a truck. Even at low speed it would cause serious injuries.

 

[Adamm]

BBC is reporting that she has threatening injuries - does not sound good =/

Edit: again navanman!

 

[AcridMeat]

That's horrible, I hope she pulls through.

 

[itsgreen]

Fuck, kind of dismissed the accident as 'how serious can it be?'

But yeah a F1 car vs. a truck is not a good thing considering their heights... hope she will be ok...

 

[brotkasten]

Seems like a crazy accident. She was just on the end of her installation lap. How unlucky can you be?

 

[navanman]

More info:

If the reports are accurate she was being reversed into the tent area and the car has shot forward and hit the side of the truck.

BBC Cambridgeshire presenter Chris Mann, who witnessed the crash, said the car had completed a circuit when it "suddenly accelerated" into the back of the lorry.

"From where I was standing it looked like the helmet took the brunt of the impact," he said.
'Terrible moment'

"Strangely, the car suddenly accelerated into the lorry and the car went careering into the side of the loading board."

He added: "There was a terrible moment when everyone was just very shocked by the impact and the suddenness of what had happened."

 

[RomanticHeroX]

BBC Cambridgeshire presenter Chris Mann, who witnessed the crash, said the car had completed a circuit when it "suddenly accelerated" into the back of the lorry.

"Strangely, the car suddenly accelerated into the lorry and the car went careering into the side of the loading board."

Car failure? Driving into a parked truck seems really unlikely under any other circumstances.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Car failure? Driving into a parked truck seems really unlikely under any other circumstances.

A stuck throttle maybe.

 

[Juicy Bob]

But when do we ever have stuck throttles in F1? I can't even remember the last time that happened.

 

[Xun]

Sounds like Vodafone are "reviewing" their sponsorship of McLaren in F1.
Will Buxton with some vague tweets on the subject but says McLaren already have sponsor lined up for 2014 and says the livery of the car will be amazing based on new sponsor.

Edit:
Rumoured to be Coca Cola bringing McLaren back to red and white livery of 80s and 90s.

That would be beautiful.

Also that crash sounds horrible, so hopefully she pulls through.

I wonder if it was computer or human error which caused it?

 

[Adamm]

Car failure? Driving into a parked truck seems really unlikely under any other circumstances.

A car failure that caused the car to suddenly accelerate seems unlikely also.

 

[brotkasten]

But when do we ever have stuck throttles in F1? I can't even remember the last time that happened.

Yeah, that's why this seems so crazy to me. It has to be a driver error.

But then again, it's a Marussia, so you never know.

 

[AcridMeat]

But when do we ever have stuck throttles in F1? I can't even remember the last time that happened.

Yeah, that's why this seems so crazy to me. It has to be a driver error.

But then again, it's a Marussia, so you never know.

Which is why I'm wondering if their future as a team is in jeopardy now. It has to be right?

 

[DBT85]

Hope she comes out of it ok.

I must say that you have all made me happy by not saying something stupid about women drivers. Other forums I browse have and it's fucking shameful.


And RE: Coke Mclaren Mercedes. I'll take that.

Vettel wants to work with webber one more season because he has no problems with him.

I'd rather see RBR get a young driver from their driver programma or di resta or something.

I agree, Webber and Di Resta in the same team would be cool.

 

[Psychotext]

Can't wait to see what the Red Bull picture donation cars look like. More sports and teams should do stuff like this. McClaren fan, but big up to Red Bull on this one.

Without wanting to put a downer on the thread, I've got two pictures on the cars, one of my mother, and one of my mother together with my wife and I. We were originally all going to go to the F1 together at Silverstone and it would have been the first time my mother had ever got to see / hear an F1 car in the flesh. Sadly my mother was diagnosed with cancer about 6 weeks ago and passed away about 3 weeks ago.

She was a Formula 1 fan for as long as I can remember, and a huge Alonso fan. I still remember how angry she was when Vettel won in 2010. The last race she got to watch was Monaco, seems a shame that it wasn't a better one. Though I'll always remember watching the Spanish GP with her just hours before my wedding ceremony.

For the last couple of years we've watched every race together and it's just not going to be the same without her.

 

[navanman]

Sounds like she got caught out by the anti-stall system. Last car she drive the Renault R29 didn't have this feature:

This sounds very much like the cars anti stall system engaged at the end of the run. Inexperienced drivers having their first runs in a F1 car can be caught out by this. As they slow to stop the car or make a low speed turn (for example into a garage) they lift off the throttle and let the revs drop. The ECU senses this and sets throttle to around 50% with the car still in first gear resulting in a sudden acceleration such as the one described.

Psychotext, very sorry for your loss.

 

[Juicy Bob]

I'm not ruling out the possibility of a stuck throttle, by any means. It's just that it really does seem highly unusual and unlikely.

There's not much point speculating at this stage though. There's going to be a full investigation into what happened regardless.

 

[nny]

Crap, I hope she pulls through; weird accident.

Oh, and I'm sorry Psychotext.

 

[navanman]

More details and hopefully some good news:

From Press Association wires:

"The front of the Marussia car was destroyed in the crash and De Villota's helmet was seen to impact with the side of the truck.
De Villota was reportedly motionless for around 15 minutes as paramedics attended to her but was seen to move her hands before being transported to hospital."

 

[Tempy]

Terrible news to hear about de Villota.

Sounds like she got caught out by the anti-stall system. Last car she drive the Renault R29 didn't have this feature:

This sounds very much like the cars anti stall system engaged at the end of the run. Inexperienced drivers having their first runs in a F1 car can be caught out by this. As they slow to stop the car or make a low speed turn (for example into a garage) they lift off the throttle and let the revs drop. The ECU senses this and sets throttle to around 50% with the car still in first gear resulting in a sudden acceleration such as the one described.

Sounds possible. What's the normal procedure for F1 drivers to stop the car?

 

[Adamm]

More details and hopefully some good news:

Motionless for 15 minutes sounds worrying though

 

[Britprog]

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/marussia-suffers-straight-line-testing-crash/

This sounds very much like the cars anti stall system engaged at the end of the run. Inexperienced drivers having their first runs in a F1 car can be caught out by this. As they slow to stop the car or make a low speed turn (for example into a garage) they lift off the throttle and let the revs drop. The ECU senses this and sets throttle to around 50% with the car still in first gear resulting in a sudden acceleration such as the one described.

 

[acm2000]

i ws just about to say, sounds like either anti stall, or, gearbox dropped out of reverse/neutral into first, but quite why the engine was running while being wheeled back into the tent, i dont know

rather fortunately, shes not far from one of the best hospitals in the country, addenbrookes

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Without wanting to put a downer on the thread, I've got two pictures on the cars, one of my mother, and one of my mother together with my wife and I. We were originally all going to go to the F1 together at Silverstone and it would have been the first time my mother had ever got to see / hear an F1 car in the flesh. Sadly my mother was diagnosed with cancer about 6 weeks ago and passed away about 3 weeks ago.

She was a Formula 1 fan for as long as I can remember, and a huge Alonso fan. I still remember how angry she was when Vettel won in 2010. The last race she got to watch was Monaco, seems a shame that it wasn't a better one. Though I'll always remember watching the Spanish GP with her just hours before my wedding ceremony.

For the last couple of years we've watched every race together and it's just not going to be the same without her.

Damn, I remember you talking about how much your mum and you loved watching F1 together. I'm very sorry for your loss.

F1GAF is here for you friend.

 

[ClassyPenguin]

Bad news all around.

 

[clemenx]

That's terrifying She'll be in my thoughts today. I hope I find good news when I check this later.

 

[Xun]

Without wanting to put a downer on the thread, I've got two pictures on the cars, one of my mother, and one of my mother together with my wife and I. We were originally all going to go to the F1 together at Silverstone and it would have been the first time my mother had ever got to see / hear an F1 car in the flesh. Sadly my mother was diagnosed with cancer about 6 weeks ago and passed away about 3 weeks ago.

She was a Formula 1 fan for as long as I can remember, and a huge Alonso fan. I still remember how angry she was when Vettel won in 2010. The last race she got to watch was Monaco, seems a shame that it wasn't a better one. Though I'll always remember watching the Spanish GP with her just hours before my wedding ceremony.

For the last couple of years we've watched every race together and it's just not going to be the same without her.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss man.

My thoughts go out to you and your family.

 

[Lucius86]

Without wanting to put a downer on the thread, I've got two pictures on the cars, one of my mother, and one of my mother together with my wife and I. We were originally all going to go to the F1 together at Silverstone and it would have been the first time my mother had ever got to see / hear an F1 car in the flesh. Sadly my mother was diagnosed with cancer about 6 weeks ago and passed away about 3 weeks ago.

She was a Formula 1 fan for as long as I can remember, and a huge Alonso fan. I still remember how angry she was when Vettel won in 2010. The last race she got to watch was Monaco, seems a shame that it wasn't a better one. Though I'll always remember watching the Spanish GP with her just hours before my wedding ceremony.

For the last couple of years we've watched every race together and it's just not going to be the same without her.

Man, that is absolutely horrible to hear. I wish you and your family all the best.

Not a good day for F1 gaf. I really hope Maria pulls through too.

 

[Juicy Bob]

Good God. I'm so sorry Psychotext.

 

[Mastah]

Picture of the crash:

http://twitpic.com/a3duh9/full

Nasty

 

[Lucius86]

Oh shit. That's not good.

 

[Dilly]

This is not good at all.

 

[SunhiLegend]

Horrible news all round.

Terrible to hear Psychotext, my besh wishes to you and your family.

 

[Juicy Bob]

BBC website updated:

Emergency medical charity Magpas, which helped to treat Villota at the scene, said she had suffered "facial and head injuries" and was in a stable condition on her arrival at hospital.

Hoping that's a good sign.

Also, radio report on BBC Cambridge from a man who witnessed the crash.

 

[Jibbed]

Picture of the crash:

http://twitpic.com/a3duh9/full

Nasty

Fuck. That thing could have taken her head off, hope she's ok.