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In an exclusive interview she gave to Spanish people magazine Hola!, Maria de Villota -- who suffered sevrious head injuries in an accident when she was driving the Marussia F1 car -- revealed that she is delighted to be alive after such a crash.
De Villota had just completed her installation lap at the Duxford aerodrome when the Cosworth-powered suddenly accelerated forward as she was rolling to a stop. The Marussia car crashed into the back of a team transporter and Maria suffered head injuries, spent one month in the hospital and lost her right eye.
"I remember everything -- even the moment of the impact," she said in the interview.
"When I woke up everybody was around me and they didn't even know if I was going to speak, or how I was going to speak. I started speaking in English because I thought I was on an FIA check-up and that the nurse was a trainer.
"Then my dad said 'Please, Maria, speak Spanish, because your mother is missing half the things', and then I became aware of everything: of what had happened, where I was and why."
Maria De Villota admitted she was shocked the first time she saw her injuries.
"In the beginning they were covering it [the eye] so I couldn't see it," she added. "The first day I looked at myself in the mirror I had 140 black stitches on my face, and they looked like they had been stitched with a boat rope, and I had lost my right eye. I was terrified. I have to undergo more surgery soon, but the worst is now behind,” the 32-year-old Spaniard explained.
"I have headaches that they don't know how long will last - maybe years. I have to control my efforts a lot because of the cranial pressure. I have also lost smell, and taste, which is linked to smell,” she added.
Maria de Villota also said that she now sees life a very different way.
"Now I have just one eye maybe I perceive more things than before. Before this, my life was a race against the clock, and now I see you have to stop and measure things in a different way,” she declared.
De Villota had just completed her installation lap at the Duxford aerodrome when the Cosworth-powered suddenly accelerated forward as she was rolling to a stop. The Marussia car crashed into the back of a team transporter and Maria suffered head injuries, spent one month in the hospital and lost her right eye.
"I remember everything -- even the moment of the impact," she said in the interview.
"When I woke up everybody was around me and they didn't even know if I was going to speak, or how I was going to speak. I started speaking in English because I thought I was on an FIA check-up and that the nurse was a trainer.
"Then my dad said 'Please, Maria, speak Spanish, because your mother is missing half the things', and then I became aware of everything: of what had happened, where I was and why."
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| Photo: Marussia F1 Team |
Maria De Villota admitted she was shocked the first time she saw her injuries.
"In the beginning they were covering it [the eye] so I couldn't see it," she added. "The first day I looked at myself in the mirror I had 140 black stitches on my face, and they looked like they had been stitched with a boat rope, and I had lost my right eye. I was terrified. I have to undergo more surgery soon, but the worst is now behind,” the 32-year-old Spaniard explained.
"I have headaches that they don't know how long will last - maybe years. I have to control my efforts a lot because of the cranial pressure. I have also lost smell, and taste, which is linked to smell,” she added.
Maria de Villota also said that she now sees life a very different way.
"Now I have just one eye maybe I perceive more things than before. Before this, my life was a race against the clock, and now I see you have to stop and measure things in a different way,” she declared.