A tribute to María De Villota

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.

De Villota was born in Madrid. She competed in numerous racing series, including the World Touring Car Championship and ADAC Procar Series. In 2005 she also competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race.

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.
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.

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, it took paramedics over an hour to remove her from the wrecked car. The motoring world along with millions of fans held their breath waiting to hear news about María's well being. The next day we were all informed that María was stable but had lost her right eye, but she still remained upbeat, even joking with doctors about the lose of her eye; "Tell me doctor, do you need both your hand to preform an operation? Well I need both my eyes to race, so you better fix it"
After 17 days in hospital she returned to her home in Spain to help recover from her neurological damage. Over the next few months the millions of fans cheered her on, sent her messages of support and motivation. Then last October she made her first public appearance since the accident and left us all gobsmacked. She looked beautiful, she had this new vision of life, an true inspiration.

At the beginning of this Formula One season María teamed up with Spanish Aterna3 and before every race gave us a lesson on car safety not only F1 but road cars, her mission was to save as many lives as possible.

Today, the 11th of October, we were all shocked by the tragic news that Villota's body had been found in her hotel room.
The whole racing community, drivers and fans, come together to send prayer and condolences to her family.

R.I.P María de Villota, A true smile, a true racer, a true inspiration and a true zest for life. Gone but never forgotten. A little piece of blue sky by day and the brightest star at night.