Formula 1 test driver Maria de Villota found dead in Spanish hotel

Formula One driver Maria de Villota has been found dead in a Seville hotel room just 15 months after she lost an eye in a horror crash.

Spanish police confirmed that her body was discovered in the Hotel Sevilla Congresos this morning and that she had died from what appears to be natural causes.

An autopsy will be carried out on the 33-year-old to confirm the preliminary finding.

The Spanish driver’s death comes just days before her book ‘Life Is A Gift’ was due to be released. She was scheduled to speak at conference today in Seville titled What Really Matters, to promote her book due for release this Monday.

A statement released by her family read: “Dear friends, Maria has left us. She has had to go to heaven like all angels. We are thankful to God for the extra year and a half she gave us.”