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[Frontrunner]

Sad to hear that news on Maria

[EagleF1-27]

Sad news and condolences to Maria. One of the things a racing driver fears the most is losing their sight.
Ignoring the fact she was a female driver which has been discussed at great length it seems. This incident raises the question about testing F1 cars outside their normal environment and the relative safety of an enclosed racing circuit. No doubt this is on the minds of the HSE who went to investigate the venue at Duxford. Now I havent looked at the footage but the still image shown on some of the links clearly shows an aircraft of some sort in the background, suggesting there were all sort of obstacles at the site, as one might expect at Duxford. These would all have no deformable barriers around them to stop the car colliding into them should something break on the car sending it off on some wild trajectory. So while this seems like a freak accident, because the team has a small budget and due to testing restrictions, perhaps risks were being taken that shouldnt have been. It wouldnt surprise me if the FIA are advised to, or take it upon themselves to ban all F1 testing from taking place at a non-sanctioned venue. Tesing would only be allowed at a purpose built test facility or ideally a proper race track.
Someone also pointed out to me that even if it had happened in the pitlane of a circuit the outcome might have been worse with a few mechanics having been taken out by the car. If it turns out it was a case of the anti-stall kicking in, and the driver having little experience in an F1 car, the other hope is that at least she had been warned about the potential for that happening, and it hadnt "slipped someones mind".
Of course this is all speculation and opinion, but this is what forums are for!

[madbrad]

She doesn't have a super license?? I just assumed she did because she was hired by Marussia as full time test driver. I just assumed without one you couldn't even do the testing she was doing.

Not sure about the female thing. I mean, the title of this thread specifies it, but doing that suggests it isn't newsworthy if a male driver crashes. If a male driver crashes, does anyone start questioning whether men should drive F1 cars or whether it will have a negative effect on men entering the sport? Sounds ridiculous? Why so for women then? The news is that a Marussia driver had a testing accident. Why is gender anything at all?

[racechick]

She doesn't have a super license?? I just assumed she did because she was hired by Marussia as full time test driver. I just assumed without one you couldn't even do the testing she was doing.

Not sure about the female thing. I mean, the title of this thread specifies it, but doing that suggests it isn't newsworthy if a male driver crashes. If a male driver crashes, does anyone start questioning whether men should drive F1 cars or whether it will have a negative effect on men entering the sport? Sounds ridiculous? Why so for women then? The news is that a Marussia driver had a testing accident. Why is gender anything at all?

You are absolutely right. I put 'female' in the title and I shouldnt have done. I was suprised because I didnt think there were any females in F1 at the moment. Anyway, I will remove it from the title because it shouldnt be there.

PS I was unaware of the seriousness of the crash when i first heard about it. I would have written the opening post differently had I known.

@EagleF127 Good post. Agree with all that.

[cheekybru]

I think the fact that its a female driver has clouded the real issue here

Lack of testing

if she or any male test driver had more time to get to grips with these cars I doubt this would have happened

This.

Really sad for the girl Sure the reason was the anti stall and lack of experience, still stupid to have the lorry anywhere near really hopefully she can make a recovery with no other serious issues

[andrew]

She doesn't have a super license?? I just assumed she did because she was hired by Marussia as full time test driver. I just assumed without one you couldn't even do the testing she was doing.

That's what I thought.

[tco]

Eagle

the still image shown on some of the links clearly shows an aircraft of some sort in the background, suggesting there were all sort of obstacles at the site, as one might expect at Duxford.

Indeed it is an airfield. I suggest many teams use such venues as allowed by the FIA rules for straight line testing. Indeed Mclaren have been known to use a similar club airfield in Menorca. No doubt Bruntingthorpe has also been used by some teams. Motor racing is dangerous as it says on every ticket. Every possibility cannot be covered and all involved accept this fact.

The discussion of relevance of the gender of the driver escapes me. I object to the assertion that the older generation would spill their gins if a woman driver should appear on the F1 grid in the future. Indeed I hope one does. There are many female drivers who are successful in other formulae, from karting to sports cars. This lady is not an inexperienced racing driver, indeed had the circumstances been different she may well have taken her place in the car at Valencia. As well as racing in a variety of single-seater and sports car categories, De Villota completed 300 kilometres of running for Team Lotus (now Caterham) at Paul Ricard last August.

Sadly this lady is now disfigured for life and is unlikely to race again (although some pilots are missing one eye), I wish her a speedy recovery and hope that she can achieve many things, although a formula one seat is not going to be one of them.

Tco (70)

[Richach]

Alex Zinardi and Martin Donelly are two heroes that spring to my mind at this time, coming back from terrible injuries. Maria certainly has a long way to go, if she able, if she wants to.

The fact that Maria has seemingly been so unlucky at only the very start of her F1 oppurtunity / career is very sad. In my opinion and you may well not share it, she is one of them, the elite band we idolise. A racing driver not a woman or a man, a racing driver and she serves our respect.

In time lets hope she can fight back to recovery and is then able to deal with what has happened.

[Jabberwocky]

I honestly think that the fact that she is female has got something to do with this thread. If a male driver turned up at Marussia's door and said Can I be one of your drivers please? Here is my race statistics:-

Races entered: 113
Wins: 1
Podiums: 11
Pole positions: 1
Race win percentage: 0.88%

2012 0 races. 0 wins. 0 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.
2011 2 races. 0 wins. 0 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.
2010 20 races. 0 wins. 3 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.
2009 16 races. 0 wins. 0 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.
2008 1 race. 0 wins. 0 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.
2007 23 races. 1 win. 7 podiums. 1 pole position. 0 fastest race laps.
2006 2 races. 0 wins. 0 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.
2005 2 races. 0 wins. 1 podium. 0 pole positions. ? fastest race laps.
2004 14 races. 0 wins. 0 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.
2003 12 races. 0 wins. 0 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.
2002 13 races. 0 wins. 0 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.
2001 8 races. 0 wins. 0 podiums. 0 pole positions. 0 fastest race laps.

The F1 team would probably be polite but tell you to get stuffed! So has the fact she is female got anything to do with the fact that she got that drive?

[zurich_allan]

I remember that DC thing in Oz.
But seriously, in 1995 there was no anti stall ???

Not literally the same devices they have now, but yes they did in effect, controlling the revs with an ECU. Williams had been developing that technology since 1993 with their CVT system, but had to restrict it to testing as 1994 brought the huge restrictions on electronic aids we all know about (with devastating effects for Williams of course). By 1995 most of the regulations from 1994 had gone out the window and most cars had at least some way round the rules to allow for manipulations of the engine revs during various parts of a grand prix, including 'turning up' and 'turning down' revs, and systems that in effect did the same thing that anti-stall does now.

[spankyham]

I think the fact that its a female driver has clouded the real issue here

Lack of testing

if she or any male test driver had more time to get to grips with these cars I doubt this would have happened

It would be a pity if the real issue here was lost in a gender debate. As RC rightly pointed out, when the accident happened she was a race-car driver.

The real issue is, if, as it appears, this is an experience issue, then surely, even those who support the testing ban must realize that any new driver needs time behind the wheel of a current spec F1 without it being such precious time that they are expected to get down to work. Drivers need time behind the wheel to learn and acclimatise.

[acosmichippo]

I think the fact that its a female driver has clouded the real issue here

Lack of testing

if she or any male test driver had more time to get to grips with these cars I doubt this would have happened

It would be a pity if the real issue here was lost in a gender debate. As RC rightly pointed out, when the accident happened she was a race-car driver.

The real issue is, if, as it appears, this is an experience issue, then surely, even those who support the testing ban must realize that any new driver needs time behind the wheel of a current spec F1 without it being such precious time that they are expected to get down to work. Drivers need time behind the wheel to learn and acclimatise.

I think I disagree. Just bear with me for a minute...

There are two possibilities here, right? 1) some bizarre mechanical glitch/failure, or 2) her fault.

1) Mechanical failures happen, could happen to anyone, at any time. I don't think testing would have much of an effect on this.

2) *If* she was at fault (please note that I'm not claiming she was, just exploring the possibility), how would more testing have helped in this particular situation? It's not like she lost control on a delicate high-speed corner that takes a lot of practice to get right - she was STOPPED and apparently about to put it in neutral to go back to the garage. How much practice do you really need to do that? And if you can't, how can they trust you to get in the car in the first place, even just for testing? So instead of additional testing, it seems to me that drivers' qualifications should be more heavily scrutinized before being given the keys to an F1 car.

Dont get me wrong, I am a proponent of allowing more testing for teams, even if just for the test/reserve drivers, but I'm not sure if it would have helped in this case.

[What's Burning?]

Spanky's request comes from ulterior motives. Every driver is green the first time they get behind the wheel of an F1 car. This was simply a horrible and freakish accident.

What I'm surprised hasn't been discussed is that given the details, it's the exact type of accident that a canopy would have prevented.

[spankyham]

I think I disagree. Just bear with me for a minute...
There are two possibilities here, right? 1) some bizarre mechanical glitch/failure, or 2) her fault.

Spanky's request comes from ulterior motives.

With respect to both you guys I think you have both missed my point.

Firstly @acosmichippo The theory I put forward in this post is neither 1) or 2) in your scenarios. It is simply a factor of driving an F1 car and it is pretty unique to F1 cars. The only way any driver learns to manage that is to practice in a safe environment (plenty of open track in front of you). Let me also say that most F1 drivers will tell you that even with a lot of experience, the anti-stall on these cars is very hard to handle (and the dangers are magnified by the power of these cars).

Secondly @What'sBurning My ulterior and exposed motives are the same. There needs to be some way that rookie F1 drivers can acclimatize to whatever spec car they might be expected to drive in anger. The extremely limited track test time means every minute is filled with tests that need to be run - meaning down to work from the get-go. In the past, a rookie driver could get in a car and just get the feel, do laps and build confidence, even when cars were way simpler (look at the anthology of steering wheels) this meant many hours and days behind the wheel without the need to test anything, simply time to learn. ANd, no matter how good a simulator is, it simply cannot replace the real thing. For the purposes of discussing this unfortunate rookie drivers accident, lets leave whether there should or should not be more testing available in F1, suffice it to say that all my motives on this point to this -> rookies need time on a track without the pressure of testing schedules and workloads.

[What's Burning?]

I may be wrong but Is that not an option currently just only with a previous year's model car? I'm not disagreeing with the sentiment. Additionally more testing would allow for further securing of drivers into an F1 program and having them content to stay there for a bit since they're getting seat time and experience.

However, we know more testing would simply widen the chasm between the haves and have nots.