THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Lewis Hamilton never doubted that he’d win the Monaco Grand Prix. The McLaren driver just didn’t envision having to survive such carnage to do so.
The 23-year-old Briton overcame a rain-soaked street circuit and an early accident for a victory that put him top of Formula One’s championship race.
Hamilton, who finished runner-up to former McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso at his favourite track last year, was overjoyed after beating BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica by three seconds.
"I am absolutely over the moon. What a day, what a result," Hamilton said after a wild pit lane celebration that saw P. Diddy get a mouthful of champagne. "I was thinking in the last few laps, Ayrton (Senna) won here and to win here is amazing. This is my best win for sure."
Senna, a three-time world champion, won at the famous street circuit six times but never in the slippery conditions that Hamilton and the 20-car field dealt with Sunday.
Rain doused the streets of the principality all morning and six cars would eventually retire as the race was shortened to 76 laps amid accidents from start to finish.
Hamilton, who moved up to second from third at the start, swiped the wall six laps in and nearly lost his rear tire. A quick pit, taking on took on more fuel for a longer run, and a slip-up by pole-sitter Felipe Massa was enough for him on the slick street circuit.
"I hit this river and oversteered and hit into the barrier, I couldn’t believe it," said Hamilton, the first Enlish driver to win at Monaco since Graham Hill in 1969. "(But) the team dealt with it so quickly."
Massa, who finished 4.811 seconds back in third, ran off the track 16 laps in and lost momentum.
"I just went over the line and I couldn’t stop the car," the Brazilian said. "The track was getting dry and dryer and we expected rain … and it didn’t come. Unfortunately, the strategy didn’t work."
Hamilton improved to 38 points in the overall standings, three more than 2005 winner and defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who finished out of the points in ninth place.
The Ferrari driver’s poor day began with a drive-through penalty and culminated with an accident involving Force India driver Adrian Sutil — his second collision of the day.
"A very poor race for me, right from the off," Raikkonen said.
Massa is third with 34 points and Kubica next on 32, while Ferrari maintained a sizable gap in the constructors’ standings over McLaren and BMW Sauber.
Hamilton hung on despite seeing a 40-second advantage erased with 17 laps left when the safety car emerged after Nico Rosberg of Williams crashed.
"I just kept it cool at the end," said Hamilton, who finished with a tire puncture due to Rosberg’s debris.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was fourth ahead of Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso. Rubens Barichello of Honda, Kazuki Nakajima of Williams and Heikki Kovalainen rounded out the places in the points.
Kovalainen, fourth on the grid, had to start last after stalling before the formation lap.
Raikkonen dropped to fourth behind Hamilton — with Kubica trailing Massa — after performing a drive-through penalty.
After his cool start, Massa underbraked to run off the track at the first corner and give Kubica the lead. Then it only got worse.
"I lost the radio for like 20 laps. I couldn’t talk to the team, I just looked at the board. It wasn’t easy to know what was going on in the race," Massa said. "The main thing of the race was that we took some gamble."
Raikkonen was soon in the pits to change his front wing after running off at the same spot as Massa.
Hamilton, who won a wet Japan GP last year, was 17 seconds ahead at the halfway point and with the track drying out, he set another fastest lap — three seconds better than Massa — to push out. The McLaren driver was clear with only the weather to worry about after a quick pit after 54 laps and the dry tires fitted.
Massa and Kubica would swap places before the Pole took second for good as the Brazilian emerged from his final stop with the softer tires on. Kubica’s quick thinking made the difference.
"I saw (Timo) Glock in front of us … with his groove tires and so I called the team and we were able to change the tires before Ferrari did," said Kubica, who matched his highest finish. "Second place was maximum for our performance so I’m pleased."
Sutil was set to score Force India’s first points with a fourth place finish before Raikkonen underbroke to run into him with seven minutes remaining.
The glamour of Monaco’s race carried into the pit lane with film director Quentin Tarantino, actress Michelle Yeoh and tennis star Boris Becker all on hand.