FILE - In this Thursday, March 15, 2012 file photo, Marussia test driver Maria de Villota of Spain poses for a photo ahead of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia. Formula One test driver Maria De Villota has been seriously injured after her racing car collided with a team support truck at an airfield in southern England, Tuesday July 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, file)
July 04, 2012 - 11:37 AM
LONDON - Formula One test driver Maria de Villota has lost her right eye after a crash in testing for the Marussia team.
Marussia says on Wednesday that the 32-year-old Spaniard is in a critical but stable condition in a hospital after the accident at an English airfield on Tuesday morning.
She is the sport's first full-time female driver since Italy's Giovanna Amati with the Brabham team in 1992.
The team says she was treated in a lengthy procedure for serious head and facial injuries sustained in the accident, when her racing car collided with a team vehicle.
De Villota underwent an operation that began on Tuesday afternoon and lasted until Wednesday morning. She was treated by neurological and plastic surgery teams.
Marussia Team Principal John Booth says "with regard to the accident, we have embarked on a very comprehensive analysis of what happened."
News from © The Associated Press, 2012