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 Schlesser in October 2013 | |
| Born | (1948-09-12)12 September 1948 (age 77) Nancy,Meurthe-et-Moselle, France |
|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  French |
| Active years | 1983,1988 |
| Teams | RAM Racing,Williams |
| Entries | 2 (1 start) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Careerpoints | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1983 French Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1988 Italian Grand Prix |
Jean-Louis Schlesser (born 12 September 1948) is a French racing driver who has competed in both circuit racing andcross-country rallying. He is the nephew ofJo Schlesser, a formerFormula One driver. Jean-Louis entered two Formula One races five years apart. At the1988 Italian Grand Prix, he and race leaderAyrton Senna crashed out after colliding; the race was ultimately the only one of the1988 Formula One season which was not won by aMcLaren.
Schlesser grew up in Morocco before returning to France to study and to complete military service. He began racing in the early 1970s after enrolling at the racing school at Le Mans, starting with numerousrally events. In 1976, he enteredFormula Three, alternating between theFrench andEuropean series for the next six years, and sharing the 1978 French championship withAlain Prost. In 1977 he began racingsports cars, and in 1981 he attempted theLe Mans 24 Hours for the first time, placing second withPhilippe Streiff and Jacky Haran. He also began racingtouring cars in 1980, competing in theFrench Supertouring Championship. In 1982, he moved from Formula Three toFormula Two, but it was not a success.[1] Nonetheless, he moved into Formula One in 1983, while continuing to race sports cars and touring cars.
Schlesser was working as a test driver forWilliams[2] when he gained his first taste of Formula One (F1) in early 1983 when he bought a drive in theRAM team'sMarch-RAM 01-Cosworth. His first race was the non-championshipRace of Champions atBrands Hatch, where he started last of the 13 entrants and finished 6th. A week later, at theFrench Grand Prix atPaul Ricard, he was the slowest of the 29 cars in qualifying and thus failed to qualify. He did not take part in another F1 race for five years, though he continued to test for Williams, and was active insports car racing.
In 1988, Williams called upon Schlesser to deputise for an unwellNigel Mansell at theItalian Grand Prix atMonza. With 26 of the 31 cars allowed to start, Schlesser qualified 22nd, and thus made his Grand Prix debut the day before his 40th birthday.
In the race, Schlesser worked his way up to 11th, whileAyrton Senna led from pole position in hisMcLaren. In the closing stages, theFerraris ofGerhard Berger andMichele Alboreto started to catch Senna, and were only a few seconds behind at the start of lap 49, with three laps remaining. At that point, Senna came up to lap Schlesser for the second time. Going into the tight Rettifilo chicane at the end of the start-finish straight, Schlesser went wide, expecting Senna to pass on the inside, and in the process locked his brakes. Wishing to keep his car on the track, Schlesser turned inside, and his left front wheel hit Senna's right rear. With the rear suspension broken, the McLaren spun and beached itself on a kerb, leaving the Ferraris to secure a one-two finish on home soil, less than a month afterEnzo Ferrari's death.[1] The collision also prevented the McLaren team from winning all 16 races of the1988 season, asAlain Prost had retired fifteen laps earlier.
Afterwards, Schlesser said that he did not think the collision was his fault.[1] Nonetheless, he made a tearful apology to Senna.[3]
Twenty-five years later, at the2013 Monaco Grand Prix, McLaren chairmanRon Dennis was reintroduced to Schlesser. Dennis said, "This is the man who ruined my life and our perfect record back in 1988." Schlesser said that "what happened that day at Monza kept you hungry."[4]
The mid-1980s saw Schlesser perform intouring cars and sports cars, winning theFrench Touring Car Championship in 1985 with aTWRRover Vitesse, as well as driving the works TWRJaguars in theWorld Sportscar Championship. In 1986 he raced in theBritish Touring Car Championship, again in a TWR Rover Vitesse.
In 1988, he joined theSauber-Mercedes squad full-time, winning theGerman Supercup and finishing theWorld Sportscar Championship in second place, (behindMartin Brundle).[2] before winning the WSC title in1989 and1990, on this occasion sharing the title with co-driverMauro Baldi.[2] His last season in WSC was 1991 during which he raced alongsideMichael Schumacher with Sauber-Mercedes. He also won the "Classic Masters" title at the 1994Race of Champions.
After a first outing in 1984, Schlesser began to compete regularly in theParis-Dakar Rally in 1989. In 1992 he began to build his owndune buggies to compete in the Dakar and other desert marathons and Europeanbajas. His first buggy, thePorsche-poweredSchlesser Original, debuted in 1992 in theBaja Portugal 1000, which Schlesser won outright, beating the worksCitroën cars with a two-wheel-drive vehicle and without a navigator by his side.
He went on to several 2WD class and overall wins the following years, before taking the overall victory in the 1999 and 2000 editions of the Dakar (respectively, Granada-Dakar and Paris-Dakar-Cairo). In the 2001 Dakar he was near victory but penalised one hour for unsportsmanlike conduct after illegally blocking his closest competitor both at the start and during the penultimate stage.[5]
Returning to the podium for2004 Dakar Rally with third overall, and once again in 2007, beating many factory efforts and winning stages, Schlesser and his team continued to compete in the event until2008 Dakar Rally. That year, the rally raid was cancelled due to concerns over a possible terrorist attack. The outfit had three cars entered but did not return for the 2009 event.
He also won theFIA Cross Country Rally World Cup from 1998 to 2002 and the2 WD FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup several times. Schlesser won every edition of theAfrica Eco Race from its establishment in 2009 to 2014.[6]
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Jean Rondeau | Jacky HaranPhilippe Streiff | Rondeau M379-FordCosworth | GTP 3.0 | 340 | 2nd | 1st |
| 1982 |  BASF Cassetten Team GS Sport | Hans-Joachim Stuck Dieter Quester | Sauber SHS C6-FordCosworth | C | 76 | DNF | DNF |
| 1983 |  Preston Henn T-Bird Swap Shop John Fitzpatrick Racing | Preston HennClaude Ballot-Léna | Porsche 956 | C | 327 | 10th | 10th |
| 1984 | New-ManJoest Racing |  Stefan Johansson Mauricio De Narváez | Porsche 956 | C1 | 170 | DNF | DNF |
| 1985 | John Fitzpatrick Racing | Kenny AchesonDudley Wood | Porsche 962C | C1 | - | DNQ | DNQ |
| 1986 | Silk CutJaguarTom Walkinshaw Racing | Derek WarwickEddie Cheever | Jaguar XJR-6 | C1 | 239 | DNF | DNF |
| 1989 | Team SauberMercedes | Jean-Pierre JabouilleAlain Cudini | Sauber C9-Mercedes | C1 | 378 | 5th | 5th |
| 1991 | Team SauberMercedes | Jochen MassAlain Ferté | Mercedes-Benz C11 | C2 | 319 | DNF | DNF |
Source:[8] | |||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Maurer Motorsport | Maurer MM82 | BMW | SIL | HOC | THR | NÜR | MUG 14 | VAL Ret | PAU 8 | SPA 7 | HOC | DON 8 | MAN 7 | PER 14 | MIS Ret | NC | 0 |
Source:[7] | ||||||||||||||||||
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | RAM Automotive Team March | RAM March01 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0V8 | BRA | USW | FRA DNQ | SMR | MON | BEL | DET | CAN | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | EUR | RSA | NC | 0 | |
| 1988 | CanonWilliams Team | WilliamsFW12 | Judd CV 3.5V8 | BRA | SMR | MON | MEX | CAN | DET | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA 11 | POR | ESP | JPN | AUS | NC | 0 |
Source:[7] | |||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position – 1973–1990 in class) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded ?–1989 in class)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | DC | Pts | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | TWR – Herbie Clips | Rover Vitesse | A | SIL | THR | SIL | DON | BRH ovr:2 cls:2 | SNE | BRH | DON | SIL | 21st | 7 | 8th |
Source:[9] | |||||||||||||||
(key)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | AMG Motorenbau GmbH | Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 | ZOL 1 | ZOL 2 | HOC 1 | HOC 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | BRN 1 | BRN 2 | AVU 1 | AVU 2 | MFA 1 | MFA 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | NOR 1 | NOR 2 | WUN 1 | WUN 2 | SAL 1 | SAL 2 | HUN 1 | HUN 2 | HOC 1 7 | HOC 2 10 | 27th | 21 |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | French Touring Car Champion 1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | World Sportscar Champion 1989–1990 With:Mauro Baldi (1990) | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Inaugural | Race of Champions Classic Master 1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Dakar Rally Car Winner 1999–2000 | Succeeded by |