Maria De Villota, former Formula One test driver, was found dead in her hotel room in Seville, Spain, apparently from natural causes (suspected heart attack) at the young age of 33.

The Spanish test driver, once the "fastest woman in the sport," was considered a trailblazer in her field. The job that led to the loss of her eye last year was one where she won constant praise for her keen driving ability.

Villota was doing a driving test for the Marussia F1 team in Duxford, England when she lost her eye, the result of a collision between her car and a stationary truck at the last leg of the test run. It took an hour to remove Villota from her car, and then she was rushed to the hospital where she received treatment for her life-threatening head and facial injuries. Seventeen days after entering the hospital, she left with no severe neurological damage, though autopsy reports suggest that there was more severe damage done, stating that a 'detachment of brain mass' from her accident may have caused her death.

This coming Monday, Villota would have launched her autobiography, Life Is A Gift, which provided details on how she came to overcome last year's accident; and how she intended to continue to be involved in motor racing, because it was embedded in her DNA.

Emilio de Villota, who competed in F1 from 1976-1982, was her father.

Villota is survived by her father, her brother, and her husband, Rodrigo Garcia Millian, who she married on Jul. 28 of this year, just three months prior to her death.