The accident, now blamed on cold brakes and De Villota’s inexperience with the car, left the Spanish driver with severe facial injuries that ultimately cost her her right eye. There hasn’t been much news on De Villota’s condition since then, but a Spanish magazine was recently granted the driver’s first interview since the crash.
As Hola (via World Car Fans) reports, De Villota was aghast when she first saw the extent of her facial injuries. In her words, “The first day I looked in the mirror, I had 104 stitches on my face, colored black and seemingly sewn with nautical rope, and I had lost my right eye. I was terrified.”
Now, with a bit of distance between herself and the accident, De Villota is seeing things from a slightly different perspective. Telling Hola that, “I have won this race, because I’m alive,” De Villota admits that an eventual return to racing is still a possibility.
First, she’s holding a press conference on Thursday to update her condition and discuss the accident. In the near future, she’s also scheduled to undergo two more operations - one to repair the damage around her right eye socket and the second to address a remaining skull injury.
We wish her all the best for a speedy and thorough recovery, and will bring you any updates on her condition as we hear them. While we don’t think a return to Formula One is in her future, we’d like nothing more than to see De Villota behind the wheel of a race car again.