Thought this might happen, as hardcore F1 fans are generally both melodramatic and anal enough to get irate over something as trivial as this. I read at some point that according to British law, an accident isn't considered fatal if the person behind the wheel dies over a year after it happened, so I'd go by that - if you start getting away from that sort of objective measure by making it subjective, it becomes a bit silly
F1 fans on the internet are a weird bunch. They complain when circuits are "too safe" but are the first to panic when a driver is injured and suggest that everything should be made safer. They also love having dead drivers to pay tribute to every 5 minutes, in a rather odd way - they're probably worried at the thought of De Villota officially not dying as the result of her accident so they won't be able to mention it all the fucking time, even though they probably will anyway. These arguments will continue for years, just for the sake of it