An internal investigation by the Marussia F1 team into Maria de Villota’s recent testing accident has concluded that the crash was not caused by a car failure.
De Villota suffered life threatening head injuries when she made contact with the back of a team truck after completing her first straight line run at the Duxford Airfield.
The team has issued a statement explaining the investigation process and its results.
“The Marussia F1 Team conducted an initial analysis immediately after the crash,” explained the statement.
“This aimed to identify the causes and contributory factors behind the accident and also served to determine if there were any car-related implications for the impending British Grand Prix.
“Having carefully examined all the data and supplementary information available at that time, the Team were satisfied that there were no such car-related issues and cleared its chassis for race weekend participation.
“Following its initial investigation, the team proceeded to carry out further detailed analysis of the accident.
“An external forensic investigation was commissioned and carried out at Duxford Airfield (a FIA-approved and much used testing venue, compliant with the recommendations for a test of this nature) and with the team at the Marussia Technical Centre in Banbury.
“This external analysis has been carried out autonomously of the team’s own internal investigation.”
Team principal John Booth added that, while satisfied with the result of the investigation, the team’s focus is on helping De Villota recover from the incident.
“We are satisfied that the findings of our internal investigation exclude the car as a factor in the accident,” he said.
“We have shared and discussed our findings with the HSE for their consideration as part of their ongoing investigation. This has been a necessarily thorough process in order to understand the cause of the accident.
“We have now concluded our investigatory work and can again focus on the priority, which continues to be Maria’s wellbeing.
“In that regard, we continue to support Maria and the De Villota family in any way we can.”
