Maria de Villota

[Markus Neumann]

Virgin=Richard Branson=very short attention span

He hit the jackpot in '08 with Brawn and then probably thought he could put a successful F1 team on its feet all by himself. When that turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated, he probably decided to back out again. F1 teams, just like football teams, can definitely be turned from a rich guy's toy into a success, RB is the best example for that. But it takes cash and time, and I don't think Branson was willing to invest a lot of either.

On the topic of female drivers: I think the teams are definitely missing out on an opportunity here. There have got to be some decently quick and somewhat hot female drivers out there, and a team fielding one would probably receive massive media attention. That could turn out to be quite lucrative for especially the smaller teams. Just imagine someone comparable to Anna Kournikova or Maria Sharapova in a Virgin or HRT. Their screen time and therefore sponsor exposure would go through the roof...

 

[Xosé Estrada]

Carmen Jordá is on GP3 this year.

She's just 23 years old so it looks like she would have her chances.

 

[Xosé Estrada]

Funny fact,

As you know Glock is not racing today because an intestinal virus.

Obviously should be Maria sitting in the car but, oh surprise (not really), she doesn't have the super license, so she can't participate.

In Spanish TV they interviewed her and she didn't talk about that, just said "she's test driver not reserve driver" and that the team could choose her as reserve but that there was no time to do it... not true.

Very bad for women in F1, please do something really serious with a girl that can actually race in F1.

I agree on some extra help for woman to arrive in F1, there are still a lot of social/educational barriers that make women a minority in motorsports, but really pushing one of the few if she can't do it its not the way to go...

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

It hadn't changed anything. You cannot join a race in/after qualy.

 

[Markus Neumann]

The problem probably isn't even a lack of acceptance for women. I'd even say that any F1 team would love to have a female driver due to the enormous marketing possibilities. It's just that there are no good female drivers. Just look at Indy Car. The women there are just not cutting it, often they are not even finishing the races :-/

Also an interesting read about Maria de Villota:
Family or F1? Female driver chooses the track - for now

 

[David Jundt]

TJust look at Indy Car. The women there are just not cutting it, often they are not even finishing the races :-/

In Simona's case, I'd blame Lotus...

I'd welcome a fast female in F1 though.

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

It's just that there are no good female drivers. Just look at Indy Car. The women there are just not cutting it, often they are not even finishing the races

Simona unlapped herself from a Takuma Sato leading the Sao Paolo Brazil race. She's had no results from the last 2 years because HVM is a horribly poor team and this year her lotus engine is 90 hp lower than the Chevys and Honda. At the 500, she was 15-20 mph slower than the rest of the field (Alesi, in a Lotus too was also dead slow)

So horrible team meets horrible engine. I don't think anyone else could do much better than Simona at HVM tbh. It'd be like if you were to bash Kovalainen for not scoring a point yet if that puts it in your perspective. But beyond that you are right. Katherine Legge is completely useless when her teammate Bourdais has been as high as 4th in a Dragon car and Ana Beatriz, Pippa Mann, Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick weren't very good. And the world is better than Milka Duno (who's a midfielder in ARCA now ROFL)

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Maria's got her first straight-line test this week

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

She's had no results from the last 2 years because HVM is a horribly poor team and this year her lotus engine is 90 hp lower than the Chevys and Honda.

Well, the team hasn't got much good results. But Doornbos was able to drag the team quite high up, though, it was the last year of Champ Car, but still!

 

[Juen-Jen Wang]

Well, the team hasn't got much good results. But Doornbos was able to drag the team quite high up, though, it was the last year of Champ Car, but still!

You referring to Doornbos' season when he got 3rd? The minute the team had to switch their entire equipment to the IR03 from the DP01 when the merge happened is when they really really started to decline a lot. I mean... Doonrbos couldn't do better than 16th overall when he went over to IndyCar in 2009... kinda tells you different levels of talent between the merged Indy field and the solo ChampCar field as well as HVM's decline in relation to other teams.

 

[Dmitry Zaharov]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-18685789

 

[Chris Butcher]

Hmm doesn't look good at all

 

[TheHemps]

I hope she's alright and all, but I said when she joined Marussia... 'She will crash, 100%, no doubt in my mind, she will crash at some point, she is a very poor driver'

Anyone else heard of an F1 car (or any car) crashing into a stationary lorry whilst doing a straight line test?

I think theres only one person in the world that could do it, and she has.

EDIT: Seems to be a car failure. So not Maria's fault. Comment does seem disrespectful in hindsight, but was not my intention

 

[Jake Sanson]

Not a very fair comment under the circumstances, Chris. A little respect would be more appropriate.

My prayers are with her and her family. F1 has had an unbelievable record since 1994, and I pray it stays that way. The last thing we need is to lose a wonderful character like Maria.

 

[Markus Neumann]

I am torn between and

Edit: Post above convinced me. it is.

 

[Dmitry Zaharov]

Some say throttle stuck open and she drove under the lorry, taking some hit by helmet. Sounds pretty serious.

 

[Ivo Simons]

I hope she's alright and all, but I said when she joined Marussia... 'She will crash, 100%, no doubt in my mind, she will crash at some point, she is a very poor driver'

Anyone else heard of an F1 car (or any car) crashing into a stationary lorry whilst doing a straight line test?

I think theres only one person in the world that could do it, and she has.

The say the throttle was jammed. So abit more respect would be appropriate..

 

[Alberto Casado]

No further info on Spanish media (not even speculation about problems with throttle or whatsoever).

It appears the car was stopping after an installation lap and then "suddenly accelerated" into a standing truck of the team. I really cannot understand how can that happen, even with a stuck throttle (if it is stuck it would not accelerate suddenly, I think), neither why the clutch/neutral was not engaged if the car was coming to a stop, or one foot firmly on the brake pedal (either would have prevented such a thing).

 

[tjc]

Just heard this on the news (BBC)

Sounds like a very nasty incident indeed, can never be good when the drivers helmet therefor head takes a serious bang like that.

Hope she will be ok.

Thoughts are with her and her family etc.

 

[Robert Wiesenmüller]

I think at the moment it is not so important how this happened, I just hope she makes it through.