Eyewitness: Maria de Villota almost beheaded in F1 crash at Duxford

Duxford Formula 1 testing crash for Marussia. Maria de Villota, (32 years old), a test driver for the team was almost beheaded. She had just completed an initial pass of the Duxford Air Museum runway and was pulling back into the temporary shelter, so the mechanics could cure a slight misfire, when she suddenly sped up and lost control. It was speculated that her foot accidentally made contact with the throttle, but listening to the steady increase in revs on the audio, that theory was dismissed. Her car then collided with the side of a Marussia articulated support truck which had been used to transport the car to the airport and became wedged beneath it. Maria's head and face impacted heavily with the trailer chassis and she received life threatening injuries. The Spanish test driver is being treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. Emergency medical charity Magpas, which helped to treat De Villota at the scene, said she had suffered "facial and head injuries" and was in a stable condition on her arrival at hospital. Marussia said she later regained consciousness and was being assessed by doctors.