The daughter of ex-F1 driver Emilio de Villota, Maria competed in a variety of motor sports following her 2001 debut in Spanish Formula Toyota, although she did not win a race after her first season racing and failed to make an impression in the Superleague Formula in 2009.

Despite this, in 2010 she signed a deal to become a Marussia test driver, which included an outing in the 2012 car at the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi, and Marussia took a decision to increase her profile.

However, in her first test drive for the team at Duxford Aerodrome in July she crashed into a parked truck and sustained life-threatening injuries. She recovered but lost the sight in one eye, ending her racing career.