Maria de Villota can recall entire crash

Maria de Villota has revealed that she can remember everything about the horrifying accident she has while testing a Marussia F1 car.

(c) Marussia F1 Team

The Spanish driver also revealed that along with losing her right eye, she also suffers regular headaches and now has no sense of smell or taste.

De Villota was severely injured in a crash while carrying out a straight line test for Marussia. The MR-01 sped up while entering the temporary pit area, crashing into a team transporter. Just a few months earlier, Maria had been appointed the teams test driver.

Maria suffered severe head and facial injuries which saw her lose her right eye. She spent a month in hospital, before she was deemed well enough to return home.

In an interview with Spanish magazine "Hola" Maria revealed that she can remember the entire crash. She said "I remember everything - even the moment of the impact, 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."

She added "Everyone wants to know and see if there are lessons that can be learned from it so future accidents can be prevented," she says.

"We won this race because I’m alive. It would be comforting to know that, with regard to the future, I have managed to improve safety."

The 32 year old now has a new perspective on life after the terrifying accident, which happened back in July. "The accident has given me a new perspective about life, about the things that matter," she said.

"It has taught me that to achieve what you want you have to educate yourself in sacrifice through effort. 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."

When she saw the extent of her injuries, she was shocked but realised that the worst had passed. "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."

She also explained "I have to undergo more surgery soon, but the worst is now behind."

Another effect from the accident is that Maria now has no sense of smell or taste, as well as having regular headaches. "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. Now I like things with a very strong taste."