2011- The Year that Motorsport’s Cardinal Sin was Committed Twice

It is one of the very first things that any young, aspiring racer learns: never, ever crash into your teammate. Well, in 2011 there have been two very high profile inter-team collisions between four top drivers in two top series. Something that is pretty rare in the higher echelons of motorsport. What is even rarer is the fact that these embarrassing crashes came within a week of each other.

First to commit the cardinal sin were the BTCC’s Honda Racing Team drivers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden. Now these are experienced and talented racers; Neal’s been in the sport for two decades and is a triple champion, whilst Shedden is a multiple race-winner. So you wouldn’t expect team leader Neal to make a sudden lunge up the inside of his teammate going into the final corner of Race 2 at Oulton Park on the 5th June. Well, he did. And predictably Shedden defended and there was contact. Neal was out, and Shedden lost bundles of time escaping from the gravel trap. The pair were nearly in tears afterwards and without doubt produced one of the most embarassing motorsport moments quite possibly of the century. What made the incident all the more hilarious for the TV viewer was the beneficiary of the incident- Jason Plato’s- rant about how the straight-line speed of the turbo cars left his normally aspirated Chevy for dead. He had to be the most unhappy victor ever.

So fair enough, this sort of incident does happen once in a while. But it was completely unexpected for it to occur again just seven days later between two champions in the top motorsport series in the world. Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton’s clash in Canada has been debated and repeated for months- how did Button not see Lewis when he appeared to look in his mirros? Why did Lewis attempt to squeeze by in such a tight gap? The questions go on and on, but nonetheless for the neutral it was hilarious. Hilarious, but significant. Jenson Button then went on to produce quite possibly the greatest recovery drive the sport has ever witnessed to win the race from last position. Lewis Hamilton was out and we all know how miserable the rest of his season was.

I suppose we'll just have to wait and see if the sin is committed again in 2012.