Lewis Hamilton drove beautifully in treacherous conditions on a wet and dramatic day in Monte Carlo to win the sixth grand prix of his career yesterday and to vault into the lead in the drivers' world championship ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who finished outside the points.

Winning in Monaco in the rain was always going to take more than just sublime skills at the wheel of a superpowerful car on the narrowest of tracks, where visibility and grip are reduced to a level that makes just getting round in one piece extremely difficult.

There was always going to be an element of luck and Hamilton duly benefited when the time lost in an early pitstop for a rear-wheel puncture caused by a brush with the barriers at Tabac was negated almost immed-

iately by a safety-car period. This was caused by a pile-up between David Coulthard, in a Red Bull, and Sébastien Bourdais, in a Toro Rosso.

While Hamilton regained the time lost, the stop also allowed the McLaren Mercedes pit crew to fuel him for a long middle stint, something that proved critical to his chances of winning as he stayed out long enough eventually to take the lead and then to build a race-winning advantage over Robert Kubica in second place.

If the safety car played into his hands, so did most of his main rivals. There were four ahead of Hamilton when he rejoined but they all came to grief in one way or another. First, Fernando Alonso, in a Renault, picked up a puncture after a similar barrier-kissing moment to Hamilton at Massanet. Then Raikkonen was brought in for a drive-through penalty because Ferrari had not fitted his tyres within the time allowed before the start.

With Hamilton back up to third behind Felipe Massa, who started the race on pole, and Kubica, Massa then made an error that ensured he would eventually finish no higher than the bottom step of the podium. The Brazilian, who had driven impressively in the early stages, momentarily deviated from the racing line on the way into Ste Devote at the start of lap 16 and could not stop his Ferrari going straight on into the turning area.

If there was luck on his side and mishaps for his rivals, this should take nothing away from Hamilton, who drove exquisitely in only his second Formula One grand prix in Monaco. The sport's most successful rookie, who so narrowly lost the title last year to Raikkonen, loves the track around the harbour, where he has already won in Formula Three and in the GP2 Series, and it showed.

At the start, from third on the grid, he immediately moved ahead of Raikkonen and he managed his tyres on a drying track better than he has of late, an area of his game for which he has been criticised heavily recently.

Special mention must go to Kubica, a driver in similar mould to Massa, who looks wild on this circuit in comparison with the smoother stylists such as Raikkonen or Jenson Button, the Honda driver, but who is frighteningly quick. The Pole was alone among the leaders in not making an error all afternoon and he thoroughly deserved his second place on the podium after a thrilling drive for BMW Sauber. Kubica has thrashed his team-mate, Nick Heidfeld, this season - the German was fourteenth yesterday - and has now established himself as the clear No1 for a team who next year could be in the hunt for a championship. If Kubica drove a great race, so too did Adrian Sutil, the piano-playing Force India driver and a German talent, in only his second year at this level. Sutil started from eighteenth on the grid, but by way of early snarl-ups in the midfield was quickly running in the top ten. With just a few laps of the 76 to go, he was on the verge of a spectacular finish in fourth place when Raikkonen thumped into the back of his car coming out of the tunnel after “the Iceman” lost control, much as Coulthard did at the same place in qualifying on Saturday.

Sutil was understandably heartbroken to see his sterling efforts dashed and a result slip through his fingers that would have done him and Vijay Mallya's ambitious team the power of good. No doubt he will be back, even if this was no fluke from a driver who set the lap record in Monaco when in Formula Three. Sutil is a great friend of Hamilton, who was amazed when told of his performance and then saddened to hear what had happened.

Alonso was hoping for a strong race in Monaco, where the shortcomings of this year's Renault might have been negated by the nature of the track and the conditions. But the Spaniard seemed to let the early error get to him because, not long after rejoining the race, he made an extremely ambitious attempt to get inside Heidfeld at the Loews hairpin and the two cars ended up in a tangle. The Spanish double world champion eventually finished tenth.

On a day replete with incident, among the most dramatic was a big shunt for Nico Rosberg in the Williams, when his car went straight into the barrier at the entrance to the swimming pool complex at about 125mph and then hurled itself across the racing line, spilling a shower of carbon fibre as it did so.

The smash, 18 laps before the end, brought out the safety car, by which time Hamilton was leading. The Briton went on from there to survive the restart and take a chequered flag he had dreamt of since he was a boy.

Monaco details

(76 Laps): 1, L Hamilton (GB, McLaren Mercedes) 2hr 0min 42.742sec; 2, R Kubica (Pol, BMW Sauber) 2:00:45.806; 3, F Massa (Br, Ferrari) 2:00:47.553; 4, M Webber (Aus, Red Bull Renault) 2:01:02.037; 5, S Vettel (Ger, Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari) 2:01:07.399; 6, R Barrichello (Br, Honda) 2:01:11.150; 7, K Nakajima (Japan, Williams Toyota) 2:01:12.922; 8, H Kovalainen (Fin, McLaren Mercedes) 2:01:15.933; 9, K Raikkonen (Fin, Ferrari) 2:01:16.534; 10, F Alonso (Sp, Renault); 11, J Button (GB, Honda); 12, T Glock (Ger, Toyota); 13, J Trulli (It, Toyota) all 1 lap behind; 14, N Heidfeld (Ger, BMW Sauber) 4 laps. Not classified: 15, A Sutil (Ger, Force India Ferrari) 67 laps completed; 16, N Rosberg (Ger, Williams Toyota) 59; 17, N Piquet Jr (Br, Renault) 47; 18, G Fisichella (Ita, Force India Ferrari) 36; 19, D Coulthard (GB, Red Bull Renault); 20, S Bourdais (Fr, Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari) both 7.

Qualifying positions

1, Massa 1min 15.787sec; 2, Raikkonen 1:15.815; 3, Hamilton 1:15.839; 4, Kovalainen 1:16.165; 5, Kubica 1:16.171; 6, Rosberg 1:16.548; 7, Alonso 1:16.852; 8, Trulli 1:17.203; 9, Webber 1:17.343; 10, Coulthard 1:15.839; 11, Glock 1:15.907; 12, Button 1:16.101; 13, Heidfeld 1:16.455; 14, Nakajima 1:16.479; 15, Barrichello 1:16.537; 16, Bourdais 1:16.806; 17, Piquet Jr 1:16.933; 18, Vettel 1:16.955; 19, Sutil 1:17.225; 20, Fisichella 1:17.823.

Championship positions

Drivers: 1, Hamilton 38pts; 2, Raikkonen 35; 3, Massa 34; 4, Kubica 32; 5, Heidfeld 20; 6, Kovalainen 15; 7, Webber 15; 8, Trulli 9; 9, Alonso 9; 10, Rosberg 8; 11, Nakajima 7; 12, Vettel 4; 13, Barrichello 3; 14, Button 3; 15, Bourdais 2.

Manufacturers: 1, Ferrari 69pts; 2, McLaren Mercedes 53; 3, BMW Sauber 52; 4, Red Bull Renault 15; 5, Williams Toyota 15; 6, Renault 9; 7, Toyota 9; 8, Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari 6; 9, Honda 6.

Next three grands prix

June 8: Canadian (Montreal). June 22: French (Magny-Cours). July 6: British (Silverstone).