María de Villota Comba (13 January 1980 – 11 October 2013) was a Spanish racing driver. She was the daughter of former Formula One driver Emilio de Villota, and sister of Emilio de Villota, Jr., who similarly competed in Formula Palmer Audi. Prior to her death, de Villota was recovering from serious head and facial injuries, sustained during an accident in straight-line testing as the Marussia Formula One team test driver.

Early career

De Villota was born in Madrid. She competed in numerous racing series, including the World Touring Car Championship and ADAC Procar Series. In August 2009, she signed with Atlético Madrid to race for the remainder of the season in theSuperleague Formula open wheel racing series. She remained with the Atlético Madrid team until the series folded in 2011. She also competed in the 2005 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race.

Formula One

On 18 August 2011, the Lotus Renault GP team confirmed reports that de Villota had made her Formula One test debut in a Renault R29 at the Paul Ricard Circuit, and that her management was in talks to secure her a test driver seat in the future. In December she reiterated her desire to work with the team in 2012, adding that she was in advanced talks over a third driver role.

On 7 March 2012, it was announced that María de Villota had joined Marussia F1 Team as a test driver, with the opportunity to sample Formula One machinery later in the year.

Duxford Aerodrome testing accident

At approximately 09:30 on 3 July 2012, de Villota was involved in a testing accident at Duxford Aerodrome whilst carrying out straight-line testing for Marussia; her first time in the car. Her car collided with a stationary truck at the end of a test run when it had just returned to the service area. Initial eye witnesses estimated the car was travelling at between 30 and 40mph (50 and 65 km/h) when it crashed. It took an hour for her to be removed from the car and she was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridgeshire, England, with life-threatening head and facial injuries. She was later reported to be conscious. The following day, Marussia team principal John Booth stated that de Villota remained in a "critical but stable" condition in hospital and had lost her right eye. On 6 July, the Marussia Technical Centre said that following an operation that day, her condition in relation to her head injury had improved. On 16 July, Marussia stated that the car was not at fault. Team principal John Booth said: "We are satisfied the findings of our internal investigation exclude the car as a factor in the accident". After a stay of 17 days, de Villota left the hospital and returned to Spain, having escaped severe neurological damage.

De Villota made her first public appearance since the accident in October, giving an exclusive interview to ¡Hola! magazine and then hosting a press conference for the general media. She revealed that she had also lost her senses of smell and taste, still suffered from headaches, and was scheduled to undergo further surgery, but that she was open to a future return to racing if she were to be granted a licence, and that she also wished to become involved in promoting safety improvements in motorsport. She also released a computer graphic which showed the extent of her initial cranial injuries.

Death

On the morning of 11 October 2013, exactly one year from her first public appearance after her testing accident, Spanish media reported that de Villota, aged 33, had been found dead in her Seville hotel room; Eurosport reported that her family had confirmed her death. The cause of her death is unknown.

At the time of her death, she was scheduled to participate as a speaker at the Seville Fundación Lo Que De Verdad Importa (LQDVI) conference and was due to launch her autobiography Life Is a Gift on 14 October. LQDVI is an organization aiming to promote human values.