12 Jul 2012

De Villota making remarkable recovery

11:52 am on 12 July 2012

Seriously injured Spanish Formula One test driver Maria De Villota is no longer under sedation and can now speak to her family and doctors.

The 32-year-old has been in hospital for eight days since suffering life-threatening head and facial injuries in a freak accident during a aerodynamic test at Duxford airfield in England.

Her Marussia team says her recovery has been remarkable.

The British-based team said De Villota had been awake since Monday morning.

De Villota, whose father Emilio was a Formula One driver, was driving the Marussia for the first time and returning slowly to mechanics when witnesses said it abruptly accelerated into the back of a parked team truck with the impact at helmet level.