You're right, we need to weigh up and see the situation from both sides. I think what happened with Maria was an unfortunate scenario, I still don't know whether she hit the throttle or the car had a tech issue itself. But we do know that it is very uncommon for things like this to happen, and hopefully we can carry on F1 as it is.
The sign at the entrance to most race tracks (if not all) has this statement: "Motor racing is dangerous" we know the risks, but we still do it. Just when I started my karting 'career' there were 3 deaths at one meeting, didn't make me think about not doing it at all, in fact if anything that's what gives it it's extra thrill, knowing that if you screw up it could all go horribly wrong. It shouldn't be up to the teams, the authorities, or the money men, it should be up to the people who put their asses in the seat, hands on the wheel and feet on the pedals. Who knows what could've happened if she'd had a canopy, it might've cracked in such a way that it could've killed her
I am going soon, I never understand why Karts don't have seat belts, I've almost been thrown out of one. But yeah it is the thrill. Maria knew it, but it is just her circumstances/fate. Poor lass.
hire karts generally have their wheels covered, proper karts (one you need an MSA license to race) don't, and it's not a particulary rare occurance to see one fly up in the air, (a la Webber at Valencia). I'd go as far to say at least one person every other meeting gets cartwheeled out, coming down head first with a kart on top of you would probably be more dangerous than being thrown out tbh.
Not sure how this will affect this debate about open-wheeled racing, but it was announced today the crash was not because of the car. Maybe this means we should be asking whether it should be more experienced(/or simply better?) open-wheel drivers should be given the testing and race seats, not just those who can garner sponsorship due to lineage or sex? That's an equally valid question, in my opinion, as whether the cars need to change.
Most likely a series of very unfortunate circumstance lead to the accident. If anything, hopefully lessons might be learned from this and loading ramps not used as makeshift garages (if that were the case) and cars brought to a halt in safer areas when working with inexperienced pilots. The injuries were gruesome... Thankfully it didn't result in a fatality.
Freak accidents will always occur. To stop them happening totally you have to stop racing altogether. If a car was enclosed and ended up upside down, you'd have a problem getting the drivers out. I doubt anyone thought that she would end up wedged underneath a loading ramp on her way back to the team area. It's one of those things that you can only learn from and ensure it doesn't happen again. Remember, many inexperienced people have driven F1 cars before, having never even done any open wheel racing. Richard Hammond tested a Renault F1 at Silverstone and didn't hit anything coming back in off the circuit to name just one. Can't say he has more experience than someone who as raced in lower formulae.
Get well soon Maria, am ashamed to say I'd never heard of her until this accident but I hope she makes a good recovery and who knows can do some form of racing again.
Maria De Villota released from hospital Really good to see she's making as good a recovery as could be expected. She's got another operation to go yet, but at least progress is being made. From the picture on the article I guess she's at least partially lost sight in one eye, but otherwise doesn't seem too bad, which is fantastic to see. Fingers crossed she continues to recover well.
I hear ya. She has a pretty big scar across her face. She was lucky to not be killed, that's for sure.
