28 Feb 2013

De Villota cleared to drive again

11:02 am on 28 February 2013

The former Formula One test driver Maria de Villota has been cleared to get behind the wheel for the first time since losing her right eye in a crash.

The Spanish driver suffered serious head and facial injuries in an accident last July when testing for Marussia for the first time in Cambridgeshire.

The 33-year-old, who said she still had headaches and "felt weak", but was "getting on well", returned to Spain shortly after the crash at Duxford Airfield and has spent the last seven months recovering.

Witnesses reported that her car "suddenly accelerated" into the back of the support lorry during testing before the British Grand Prix.

It was only the fourth time de Villota had driven a Formula One car.