Whilst Massa made a full recovery, 32-year-old Spaniard De Villota will never
race again competitively given the loss of her eye.
But via his Twitter account and referring to his own experiences, Massa said:
“My thoughts are for Maria and her family.
“I pray God to help her at this time. Don’t give up Maria and think positive!
As I did after my incident!!!!!”
Team-mate Fernando Alonso was one of the first drivers on Tuesday to offer his
sympathy, and the double world champion did so again yesterday.
Alonso tweeted: “More support than ever to my colleague Maria De Villota. Want
to give you all the energy in the world. We are close to you!”
Even tennis’ world No 2 Rafael Nadal joined in the chorus of support as he
said: “Maria I hope you recover soon, you must be strong and we hope to see
you back as soon as possible.”
The tweets were indicative of the sentiment being offered De Villota, her
family and the team as a whole.
Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen attempted to look on the positive as the Finn
said: “The main thing is she is alive.
“It was a freak accident, a terrible accident, but it could have been worse.
It is difficult now, but we have to try to look for the positives.
“I am sure she will pull through and hopefully she gets the support, as I am
sure she will, from the Formula One family.
“The Formula One world is quite sensitive and sensible in these incidents.
Everybody is racing hard, but nobody wishes anything like that on people.
“I am sure she will be looked after and her family will be looked after.
“I am sure they have the best possible care, best possible tools for recovery
and everyone is wishing her the best.”
De Villota, who joined Marussia as a test driver in March, was taking part in
her first test for the team, a straightline aero at the old Second World War
site.
De Villota had just completed her initial installation run when the accident
occurred, which has naturally resulted in the launch of an internal
investigation as to the cause.
Team principal John Booth added: “We have embarked on a very comprehensive
analysis of what happened and this work continues for the moment.”
For now, the over-riding concern within the team ahead of this weekend’s
British Grand Prix will centre on De Villota.
Booth said: “Maria’s care and the wellbeing of her family remain our priority
at this time.”