SPORTS/OLYMPICS> Motor Racing
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SPORTS/OLYMPICS> Motor Racing
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Hamilton triumphant amid the Monaco mayhem
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-26 10:03 MONACO - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton battled to Monaco Grand Prix victory on Sunday despite hitting the barriers on an afternoon of mayhem on the principality's slippery streets.
"This has got to be the highlight of my career, and it will be the highlight for the rest of my life," declared the ecstatic Briton, the first English winner of the showcase race since Graham Hill in 1969. "Even if I win here again, which I plan on doing, this is the best one...It was the most fun I've ever had in a race," he added. The Briton's sixth win in 23 starts and second of the season, catapulted the 23-year-old to the top of the standings three points clear of Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen who took ninth place after a wet and crash-strewn race. Poland's Robert Kubica was second for BMW Sauber, 3.064 seconds behind, with Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa in third after starting on pole position. Hamilton has 38 points to Raikkonen's 35, with Massa on 34 and Kubica on 32 in a four-way battle after six of the season's 18 races. Ferrari lead McLaren 69-53 in the constructors' standings. The race, glamour highlight of the Formula One season, was ended after the two hour limit was reached with 76 of the 78 scheduled laps completed. "Great guys, fantastic job as always," the jubilant Hamilton told his pit crew over the radio as he took the chequered flag. "I apologise for hitting the barriers but we made up for it. Now let's go and party tonight." GREAT START Hamilton made a great start, taking Raikkonen for second place into the first corner but had to pit on lap seven with a deflated right rear tyre after a brush with the barriers at the harbour-side Tabac corner. The Briton rejoined in fifth but still with everything to play for on a circuit where the slightest mistake carries a heavy penalty. The early pit stop and refuel played into Hamilton's hands as others literally slipped up. Massa slid off at the Ste Devote corner, handing the lead to Kubica for a long stretch before the pitstops and Ferrari bet wrongly on a change in the weather. "We made a kind of mistake on the strategy and we were waiting for the rain which didn't come. It was a little bit of a gamble," said Massa. Raikkonen's race had already been handicapped by Ferrari failing to fully fit his tyres when the three minute board was shown before the start, incurring a costly drive-through penalty. Hamilton's victory made up for the disappointment of finishing runner-up in a McLaren one-two last year and allowed him to emulate his late boyhood hero and champion Ayrton Senna as a Monaco winner. "I hope that this is the start of something very special," said the Briton. ROSBERG CRASH In a race turned into a lottery by rain and crashes, with accompanying safety car interventions, Australian Mark Webber finished fourth for Red Bull with Germany's Sebastian Vettel fifth for Toro Rosso on their new car's debut. Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was sixth for Honda, his first points since 2006, with Japan's Kazuki Nakajima seventh for Williams. Finland's Heikki Kovalainen came eighth for McLaren after starting last from the pit lane when his car suffered a software glitch before the formation lap. Hamilton's friend Adrian Sutil provided the heartbreak and tears, the German starting 18th for Force India but enjoying the race of his life in fourth place until Raikkonen misjudged his braking and shunted him out at the tunnel exit with the chequered flag less than 10 minutes away. "It was a great race with an incredibly sad ending," said the distraught German. "We could have had fourth place. It's incredible bad luck that Kimi crashed into me. He obviously didn't do it on purpose." Germany's Nico Rosberg was taken to hospital for checks after crashing his Williams 14 laps from the finish, bringing out the safety car for the second time.
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