The man who thwarted McLaren's clean sweep

Born on this day in 1948, Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser's claim to fame in F1 was sadly the result of his own clumsiness rather than the product of an impressive drive.

It all started with a case of chicken pox that sidelined Nigel Mansell for two races with Williams in 1988.

To replace the British charger, Sir Frank gifted a drive at the Italian Grand Prix t Monza to its occasional and inexperienced test-driver, one Jean-Louis Schlesser.

The Frenchman was out of his depth from the outset, and found himself two seconds adrift from team mate Ricardo Patrese in qualifying.

He looked to be heading to an uneventful afternoon however, cruising on his own at the back of the field, when the McLaren of unassailable leader Ayrton Senna swelled in his mirrors with a handful of laps to go.

Schlesser clumsily locked up as he entered the first chicane and then clipped the McLaren on his way out, spinning Senna around and out of the race.

The incident set off a huge clamour in the grandstands as Senna's demise handed an emotional 1-2 finish to Ferrari, with Gerhard Berger leading home Michele Alboreto, just two weeks after the passing of Enzo Ferrari.

But in all his splendour, Schlesser also crushed McLaren's hopes of a clean sweep campaign as Senna and teammate Alain Prost had up to then shared every single race win among themselves.

But we still wish a happy birthday to Formula 1's most famous backmarker!