The Complete 2008 Monaco GP Review

The script called for a Lewis Hamilton win in Monaco. It was the location where he felt he had been denied his first victory in 2007, he connected with the race's mystique and heritage better than almost any other driver on the grid, and his charging Turkey performance had set the scene for a McLaren/Hamilton resurgence.

When he topped Thursday practice while Ferrari grimaced about their poor one-lap pace and their suspicion that they hadn't succeeded in closing the gap to McLaren on tight circuits after all, the result looked even more obvious.

And sure enough, in the end Hamilton was the fastest man on race day and charged to a comfortable victory, reclaiming the points lead in the process.

But this was only achieved after Ferrari had beaten a perturbed Hamilton to the front row of the grid, and after he had survived a major brush with the wall just five laps into the wet and enthralling race.

McLaren deserve abundant credit for their quick strategic thinking - filling Hamilton up with fuel when he pitted for repairs and allowing him to consequently charge on a lighter tank when most of his key rivals would be heavy, and to enjoy plenty of flexibility over when to pit for dry tyres. However much of the praise had to be directed at Hamilton himself, who was on occasion up to three seconds faster than the rest of the field as the track conditions changed by the lap.

"This has got to be the highlight of my career and I am sure it will continue to be the highlight for the rest of my life," he proclaimed.

"I remember in the last few laps I was just thinking that Ayrton Senna won here a lot of times and to win here would be amazing.

"The pace I had was ridiculous. I had one second (per lap advantage) on people for the majority of the race and it was quite easy."

"It was the most fun I have had in a race ever."

At one stage, it looked like it might be Felipe Massa who was celebrating on Sunday afternoon - which would have marked an incredible turnaround by a man who openly dislikes Monaco and has been accused of lacking the precision to thrive there (or in the wet). It didn't turn out that way, but his performance in the wettest laps was still astounding. No-one will laugh at the thought of Massa being on Monte Carlo pole again.

Practice

Practice one - Thursday am

Kimi Raikkonen emerged on top of an interrupted opening session, the Ferrari driver beating McLaren's Lewis Hamilton with nine minutes to go.

The change at the top came shortly after the session resumed following a 16-minute delay while a loose drain cover on the exit of Sainte Devote was attended to.

Heikki Kovalainen and Felipe Massa completed the top four, with Williams' Nico Rosberg pipping BMW's Robert Kubica for fifth in the final moments.

Jarno Trulli became the first driver of the weekend to hit the wall - breaking his Toyota's suspension on the way out of Portier. Nick Heidfeld (BMW) and David Coulthard (Red Bull) also stopped on track due to a loss of power and a throttle problem respectively, with Coulthard failing to complete a flying lap.

Practice two - Thursday pm

By the end of the second session, Ferrari were concerned, having struggled to match McLaren's ability to immediately produce fast laps on the softer Bridgestones.

Hamilton had dominated most of the afternoon, with Raikkonen nearly half a second slower in third, behind the impressive Rosberg.

Again the session was disturbed by a red flag, on this occasion thanks to Fernando Alonso clouting the Sainte Devote barrier and then littering the track with bits of his Renault as he dragged it back to the pits.

His teammate Nelson Piquet had earlier crashed at the same place, while Trulli had another meeting with the barriers at the Swimming Pool and was also hampered by a floor problem, and Adrian Sutil nosed his Force India into the Rascasse wall on his final run.

Practice three - Saturday am

Rain had been a hot topic throughout the race build-up, and it finally arrived on Saturday morning. With clouds gathering overhead at the start of final practice, the whole field - bar Coulthard, who was initially sidelined with an oil pressure problem - charging out for a frenetic first half-hour.

It was Kovalainen who set the fastest time, crossing the line just as the rain began to fall in earnest, and then crashing at the Swimming Pool on his next lap.

But with conditions already too poor for competitive times, he would remain on top despite sitting out the rest of the session.

Hamilton took second ahead of Raikkonen and the still-rapid Rosberg, with Force India's Adrian Sutil again catching the eye in eighth place.

Qualifying

Part one

Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel knew long before he reached Monaco that he was destined to start on the final few rows. Although he was eager to receive the long-awaited new STR3 chassis, as its gearbox differed from the 2007 chassis', he would have to take a gearbox change penalty when he upgraded to the newer model.

As it happened, he didn't actually have five places to lose, because both Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais were struggling to get their heads around the new car's behaviour. Bourdais had been the less perplexed of the pair in practice and managed to out-qualify Vettel as they took 16th and 18th.

"I am finding it very difficult to read what the car is doing, especially under braking when I am locking wheels a lot," said Bourdais.

Vettel didn't fall right to the back of the grid, for Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella also had to take a gearbox change penalty thanks to a failure in final practice. The repair wasn't completed until several minutes into qualifying, and with that delay and some traffic problems he only qualified 20th, 0.6 seconds slower than teammate Adrian Sutil.

The other Q1 departure was the unfortunate Nelson Piquet. With Renault voicing their concerns about the shaky start to Piquet's Formula One career, he needed to raise his game in Monaco, but instead ended up a lowly 17th on the grid. His first run was spoiled by a trip down the Sainte Devote escape road, while he lost time on the second outing with a very sideways moment at Portier.

Part two

Having lost one car in Q1, Renault nearly saw their other driver eliminated in the next segment, as Fernando Alonso rode his luck to scrape into the top ten.

A poor first run had left him outside the cut-off, but he managed to squeeze into the top ten on his second attempt.

Just as Alonso crossed the line, the yellow flags were coming out for a massive accident at the chicane. David Coulthard's Red Bull had snapped to the right under braking, slammed into the outside barrier, and then speared down the escape road and into another barrier. The Scot was unhurt, but slightly baffled by the crash.

"Obviously I lost control of the car when I hit the brakes - but I don't know exactly why I lost the rear," he said. "I have braked many times into that chicane without problems. The team will look at all the data, and try and understand that everything was in good shape. But until they say otherwise, I just have to presume that I lost the rear."

Before the crash, Coulthard had done enough to get himself into Q3 for the second successive race - although with his car wrecked, he was clearly not going to be participating in the session.

Timo Glock was the man on the unlucky side of the typically close group of drivers around the tenth place cut-off - just 0.068 seconds slower than Coulthard in 11th.

"I did a decent first lap in Q2 but on the last set of tyres it just didn't work out," the Toyota driver said. "I had a good first sector but the last two sectors didn't come together and I missed Q3 by less than a tenth of a second."

His 11th place would later become 10th, however, as Red Bull discovered that Coulthard's repair would involve a new gearbox, meaning he would earn a five-place penalty.

The Hondas both lost their best laps to Coulthard's accident, leaving Jenson Button 12th and Rubens Barrichello 15th - where he would remain despite the stewards investigating whether he had impeded Fisichella in Q1.

Williams' Kazuki Nakajima was also eliminated, blaming his 14th place on his inability to string together one completely error-free lap.

But the big surprise of the session was that Nick Heidfeld's long run of Q3 appearances was brought to an end, as the BMW driver found himself languishing in 13th position.

"Unfortunately I don't have much to say: my qualifying result is disappointing," Heidfeld said. "I can't heat up the tyres quickly enough."

Part three

Ferrari's pessimism after Thursday practice made it sound like an all-McLaren front row was inevitable.

Yet when the first flying laps of Q3 were complete, it was Kimi Raikkonen who sat on provisional pole position on a 1:16.112 - 0.2 seconds quicker than second-placed Lewis Hamilton, with Felipe Massa third ahead of Heikki Kovalainen.

BMW's Robert Kubica had been widely tipped as a dark horse for this race, and he hinted at this potential by briefly grabbing second place on his first run - even though he lost time behind Hamilton in the final corners.

Raikkonen improved his time to a 1:15.815 on his last attempt, and when Hamilton lapped a frustrating 0.024 seconds slower with his own final lap, it looked like the world champion had done enough to secure the pole.

But his teammate was about to stun Monaco by beating them both. Massa's poor Monte Carlo record meant few considered he was a serious threat for victory, and he had encouraged that impression on Thursday by admitting that he really didn't care much for the circuit.

Yet that distaste didn't stop him snatching a shock pole position with a last lap 0.028 seconds faster than Raikkonen's - an achievement that left Massa laughing in disbelief inside his helmet.

At the circuit where they had been thoroughly trounced by McLaren in 2007, and had been downcast after practice, Ferrari had swept the front row places, leaving Hamilton to admit that their pace had come as "a surprise."

His teammate Kovalainen completed the second row, 0.007 seconds than Kubica, who was edged down to fifth as the top two teams monopolised the top four positions.

Unsurprisingly given his speed all weekend - including a fine second in Q2 - Nico Rosberg joined Kubica on row three.

"I really enjoyed it out there today," said Rosberg. "It was good fun and I was really pushing it to the limit - I imagine it would be pretty exciting to watch my on-board camera footage because I was really attacking every bit of the lap."

Row four partners (and former Monaco winners) Alonso and Jarno Trulli had both gone into qualifying less than happy with their cars - Renault admitting that the interruptions in practice left them poorly prepared for qualifying, and Trulli still chasing a satisfactory set-up.

But they managed to beat regular rival Mark Webber, as the Red Bull driver lined up ninth. His teammate Coulthard was classified 10th until his gearbox change penalty kicked in and allowed Glock onto the fifth row.

Qualifying results

Pos Driver        Team                     Q1        Q2        Q3
 1. Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:15.190  1:15.110  1:15.787
 2. Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:15.717  1:15.404  1:15.815
 3. Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:15.582  1:15.322  1:15.839
 4. Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:15.295  1:15.389  1:16.165
 5. Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:15.977  1:15.483  1:16.171
 6. Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:15.935  1:15.287  1:16.548
 7. Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:16.646  1:15.827  1:16.852
 8. Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:16.306  1:15.598  1:17.203
 9. Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:16.074  1:15.745  1:17.343
10. Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:16.086  1:15.839  No time
11. Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:16.285  1:15.907
12. Button        Honda               (B)  1:16.259  1:16.101
13. Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:16.650  1:16.455
14. Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:16.756  1:16.479
15. Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:16.208  1:16.537
16. Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:16.806
17. Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:16.933
18. Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:16.955
19. Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:17.225
20. Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:17.823

The Race

The rain came in earnest on race morning, and although it briefly cleared, the clouds opened again as the field formed up on the grid.

Despite some uncertainty in the paddock, in the event the surface clearly demanded at least an intermediate wet tyre, with Nelson Piquet uniquely going a step further and choosing Bridgestone's full 'extreme wet' rubber.

It looked like Ferrari had been particularly indecisive, as the team failed to complete Kimi Raikkonen's change to intermediates before the mandatory three-minute cut-off began - a rules breech that would ultimately earn the world champion a drivethrough penalty.

But he revealed that the problem had been misfortune rather than disorganisation.

"It wasn't a late call," Raikkonen said. "We started to put the tyres on earlier than the others, but unfortunately they had some problems with the wheel nut on one of the rear wheels."

Both of Formula One's Finns hit trouble before the race even began, with Heikki Kovalainen having to take the start from the pit lane after his McLaren stalled on the dummy grid.

The team's CEO Martin Whitmarsh confirmed that Kovalainen was not to blame.

"It was a software glitch that robbed him of control of the clutch before the start, so we had to reset that," he explained.

So while one McLaren was wheeled off the grid, and one Ferrari lined up with a penalty hanging over it, their respective teammates were left to fight it out into Sainte Devote for the first time, as Lewis Hamilton immediately charged ahead of Raikkonen and tucked in behind pole-sitter Felipe Massa.

The field made it safely through the first turn, but inevitably incidents soon followed. Nico Rosberg tagged the rear of Fernando Alonso's Renault at the Loews hairpin and after soldiering on with a mangled front wing for several laps, eventually pitted, while after overtaking Rubens Barrichello and Mark Webber with bold opening lap moves, Jenson Button came to grief when attacking Nick Heidfeld in the Swimming Pool section.

"I was alongside Heidfeld through the Swimming Pool when he overshot the corner," Button explained. "On the exit, I thought there was enough space for me to go down the inside but there wasn't and I touched his rear wheel with my nose, breaking my front wing and damaging the bargeboards."

Next to require a new front wing was Timo Glock, although he was lucky not to incur more damage when he spun his Toyota into the wall at the final corner. It wouldn't be his last incident of the afternoon...

The field rapidly became spread out - partly because drivers like Glock and Rosberg held up sections of the pack with their wounded cars, and partly because the front-runners were driving so masterfully in the increasingly wet conditions.

Although Massa has never been renowned for excelling in the wet or at Monaco, he was in exceptional form as he pulled out an early three-second lead over Hamilton, and an eight-second gap back to teammate Raikkonen.

"In the first stint, I was so quick and able to put down a very good pace," said Massa. "I knew that the strategy was working well and the car was perfect."

His muted teammate had no answer to his pace.

"I just couldn't get the tyres working," Raikkonen complained.

While fourth and fifth-placed Robert Kubica and Alonso followed Raikkonen at three-second intervals, a large gap had already opened up before Trulli appeared - and this played a critical part in McLaren turning what could have been a disaster for Hamilton into the seeds of a triumph.

Pushing hard to keep Massa in sight on lap five, Hamilton whacked the Tabac barrier and destroyed his right rear tyre, but was able to dive into the pits for new tyres and to fill up with fuel, and rejoin still in fifth place and ahead of Trulli.

"I just oversteered and just slid across into the barrier," Hamilton explained. "I couldn't believe it but I knew I had only just touched it and I had a rear puncture. Fortunately I was able to tell the team quickly and they were able to react. They did a fantastic job."

The safety car then made its first appearance on lap seven after a series of incidents at Casino Square.

First Alonso tagged the wall and - like Hamilton - destroyed a rear tyre but managed to make it back to the pits, rapidly effect repairs and rejoin still in contention.

Moments later, David Coulthard (Red Bull) slid into the same barrier, and was then collected mid-crash by Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso), who was having an accident of his own.

With the rain worsening at this stage but most believing it would soon fizzle out, the majority chose to stay on intermediates even though the conditions really called for more hardy Bridgestones by now.

But Alonso opted for extreme wets when he pitted for repairs, with Trulli also choosing to stop and switch to these.

That allowed Alonso to mount a charge as soon as racing resumed. However his chance of pulling off a surprise result then ended when he tangled with Heidfeld at Loews.

An uncharacteristically half-hearted manoeuvre by Alonso left the two cars interlocked mid-corner, breaking the Renault's front wing (again) and ultimately leading to a puncture for the BMW.

Rosberg also lost another wing in the incident after a touch with Kovalainen in the traffic jam that was trying to negotiate around the crashed cars.

Raikkonen received his penalty shortly after the restart, and would lose more time soon afterwards when he went straight on at Sainte Devote and broke his front wing.

These incidents allowed Kubica up to second, and the BMW began to edge closer to Massa, before taking the lead when the Ferrari ran wide at Sainte Devote on lap 15.

"In a race like that it's so easy to have a small loss of concentration," said Massa. "I just braked a little bit over the line, and I couldn't stop the car."

Once ahead, the Pole couldn't shake Massa off, though, and when the Ferrari stayed out six laps longer than Kubica before making its first pitstop on lap 32, Massa was able to get back in front - helped by Kubica enduring graining for several laps on his new set of tyres.

Both, however, were now behind Hamilton.

The McLaren driver had fallen away from the top two at first while laden with his full fuel load. But as his car lightened and the track began to dry, the Briton began to dominate - lapping between one and three seconds faster than second-placed Massa in the middle of the race.

While Hamilton showed the way at the front, Mark Webber had calmly risen to fourth in an immaculate drive for Red Bull.

But the real hero of the race was proving to be Force India's Adrian Sutil. Some determined early passes, and more of the wet weather flair he had shown when topping a damp practice session in Monaco last year, allowed him to join the lower top ten pack.

He then gained three places by taking the best route around the Heidfeld/Alonso blockade (although he would later receive a stewards' warning for this), and by half-distance he had established himself in a remarkable fifth place, ahead of the delayed Raikkonen.

Further back, the pack was being split up as those who had switched to extreme wets began to suffer terribly on the drying track. With slicks not yet an option, and pitting for intermediate fairly futile, the likes of Trulli and Alonso instead stayed out on wilting rubber with huge queues of cars growing behind them.

Mired in 15th place, Alonso decided to roll the dice and start the rush for slicks on lap 45. By the time he had got up to speed on them, he was even further behind, but he at least stayed on the track, unlike teammate Piquet, who crashed out at Sainte Devote.

The first points contender to make the switch was Webber, whose fuel tank would not allow him to stay out as long as would have been ideal. The extra five laps on cold slicks on a treacherous track delayed the Red Bull sufficiently for Sutil and Raikkonen to move up to fourth and fifth by the time they had stopped for appropriate tyres.

In the tricky moments as the track approached dryness, Sutil regularly set new fastest laps - as did Barrichello and Nakajima, both of whom were making good progress in the lower part of the top ten.

But the master of the slippery streets was clearly Hamilton. By the time he made his final stop and took on dry weather tyres on lap 53, his lead was nearly 40 seconds, and he had no trouble rejoining comfortably ahead.

Kubica then jumped in front of Massa again by pitting for 'slicks' one lap earlier - as Ferrari kept faith for too long with a weather report that promised a second rain shower imminently. Massa had been fuelled to the finish at the first stop because the team were so confident that the track would not dry, but in the end it only meant that he had been more fuel-laden than necessary when Hamilton was on his charge.

BMW had also been unwilling to pit Kubica until they were sure no more rain was on the way, to the Pole's frustration at the time as he found himself struggling to keep up with the slick-shod cars he was trying to lap. But by making the call slightly more swiftly than Ferrari, they were able to get their man back up to second.

Then just as the race looked like it was finally settling down on a now-dry track, the safety car emerged to reset the field after the charging Rosberg had a massive accident in the first part of the Swimming Pool.

The Williams slammed into the inside barrier first before wiping out its opposite side on the outside barrier, and coming to rest in the middle of the track. Rosberg - whose recovery drive had included a bold pass on Piquet in the tunnel, leapt out apparently unharmed - but would be taken to hospital for precautionary checks.

The caution brought Kubica and Massa back on to Hamilton's tail, but also erased what had been a secure gap back from fourth-placed Sutil to Raikkonen in fifth.

Raikkonen was determined to get past Sutil at the restart, but succeeded only in out-braking himself into the chicane and ploughing into the rear of the Force India, causing terminal damage to its rear and breaking the Ferrari's front wing.

Sutil and his team were predictably devastated.

"Kimi crashed into my rear and destroyed my whole race," said the German. "It was the best race of my whole career and it is really a shame - I can't say any more about it. I am so really disappointed."

Force India's technical boss Mike Gascoyne hoped the stewards would take action, but Raikkonen escaped censure.

"The frustration is that if that was a Force India driver hitting a world champion we'd expect to get a one or two-race ban, but the other way round nothing ever seems to happen," said Gascoyne.

It added to the annoyance on a day when Force India's other driver Giancarlo Fisichella barely featured due to gearbox problems - steadily losing gears before finally pulling out.

Raikkonen himself was somewhat sheepish about the incident.

"I just think my brakes were a bit too cold and I locked the rear," he said. "I nearly lost the car but unfortunately I hit him - and it is sad for them because they are not very often in the position to finish in the points. So, I feel a bit sorry for him - but I could not do anything."

With the two-hour time limit approaching, that proved to be the final flashpoint of this remarkable race. Hamilton duly stretched away from Kubica and Massa to secure the victory after the restart, ending Ferrari's winning streak and launching himself back into the championship lead.

Sutil and Raikkonen's tangle left the door open for Webber to collect the fourth place he had been on course for prior to his unfortunately-timed pitstop, while Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel emerged with fifth on the new STR's debut - to the team's delight.

He had stayed out of trouble, kept pace with the upper midfield pack, and then changed to slicks at just the right moment.

By contrast, Barrichello waited three laps longer before pitting and lost out to Vettel, although he was still thrilled to end his long points droughts.

Webber had a straightforward final few laps in fourth place, just ahead of Vettel, who held off Rubens Barrichello (Honda) as the Brazilian finally ended his long points drought following a strong drive from the midfield that saw him setting several fastest laps as the track dried.

Nakajima was on course to beat both Vettel and Barrichello until a wheelnut problem at the Williams' final pitstop confined him to seventh place, just ahead of the charging Kovalainen.

The McLaren driver inadvertently punted Button in a spin at the chicane but survived intact, only to find himself way behind the pack at the restart having been allowed to un-lap himself at the last moment. Although he rapidly closed on Nakajima (while also resisting the even more delayed Raikkonen), Kovalainen had to settle for a single point - yet another blow to his now virtually non-existent title hopes.

Alonso trailed home tenth after his miscellaneous incidents, ahead of Button and Glock, who also spun at both Mirabeau and the chicane on the way to 12th, one place ahead of teammate Trulli after the Italian had struggled badly with the extreme wets when the weather brightened. The extremely delayed Heidfeld completed the finishers in a BMW left wounded by Alonso's assault.

There was almost one final strange yet appropriate twist at the front. When McLaren collected Hamilton's car, they discovered that had the race not been stopped two laps short of its intended distance due to the time limit, he would have almost certainly suffered another puncture and handed the win to Kubica.

"He had a puncture on the slow down lap as well," Martin Whitmarsh confirmed. "Probably from debris from Nico's accident. We were lucky..."

Race results

76 laps; 260.520km;
Weather: Wet.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  2h00:42.272
 2.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  +     3.069
 3.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  +     4.811
 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  +    19.264
 5.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  +    24.657
 6.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  +    28.408
 7.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  +    30.180
 8.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  +    33.191
 9.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  +    33.793
10.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  +    1 lap
11.  Button        Honda               (B)  +    1 lap
12.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  +    1 lap
13.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  +    1 lap
14.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  +    4 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:16.689

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)    67
Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)    58
Piquet        Renault               (B)    46
Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)    37
Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)    13
Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    13


World Championship standings, round 6:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Hamilton      38        1.  Ferrari                69
 2.  Raikkonen     35        2.  McLaren-Mercedes       53
 3.  Massa         34        3.  BMW Sauber             52
 4.  Kubica        32        4.  Williams-Toyota        15
 5.  Heidfeld      20        5.  Red Bull-Renault       15
 6.  Kovalainen    15        6.  Renault                 9
 7.  Webber        15        7.  Toyota                  9
 8.  Alonso         9        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      6
 9.  Trulli         9        9.  Honda                   6
10.  Rosberg        8
11.  Nakajima       7
12.  Vettel         4
13.  Barrichello    3
14.  Button         3
15.  Bourdais       2

Team-by-Team

After practice, Ferrari are convinced that McLaren will dominate, yet it's the red cars that grab the front row spots, with Massa amazed to be on pole ahead of Raikkonen.

The Brazilian dominates at first in the wet race, briefly loses the lead to Kubica after running wide, but fuels to the finish at his first stop, emerges ahead of the BMW, and expects to come away victorious. He gets caught out when the track dries though, and ends up back in third behind Kubica.

Raikkonen is never on the pace in the GP. He gets a penalty for his tyre fitting illegally running over into the three minutes prior to the start, breaks his front wing on the Sainte Devote barriers, and later rams Sutil and smashes another wing. Finishes ninth.

More success for Kubica, who qualifies fifth then finds himself in the lead early in the race as others slip up. He loses out to Massa in the first stops, repasses the Ferrari in the second, but Hamilton manages to jump ahead of them both, so Kubica ends up second.

In total contrast, Heidfeld loses practice time with an engine fault, and struggles to 13th on the grid having failed to get to grips with his tyres. He suffers a tangle with Button to rise to fifth in the race, then gets hit by Alonso and delayed by damage and a puncture. He rejoins to finish an unhappy 14th and last.

A missed opportunity for Renault, as Alonso qualifies seventh and briefly runs fourth before damaging a tyre on the barriers. He switches to extreme wets and flies until tangling with Heidfeld and doing more damage. A gamble on an early change to slicks doesn't completely pay off, and he has to settle for 10th.

Both drivers crash at Sainte Devote on Thursday, but will Alonso moves on, it sets the tone for Piquet's weekend. He qualifies a lowly 17th, runs near the back all race, and ultimately retires after crashing while on cold slicks.

Rosberg is outstanding in practice, holding second place on Thursday afternoon and rarely being out of the top six. He duly qualifies sixth, but his race is ruined early when he breaks his front wing on Alonso's Renault. A later brush with Kovalainen breaks it again, but he gets back up to 10th before destroying his car against the Swimming Pool barriers.

Nakajima comes through from a mediocre 14th in qualifying to finish a sensible seventh.

Like BMW, Red Bull's duo continue their divergent 2008 fortunes, as Coulthard suffers throttle problems in first practice, fuel pressure problems in final practice, then has a massive qualifying crash shortly after securing 10th on the grid, so has to take new gearbox and falls to 15th. He then crashes early in the race.

But Webber qualifies ninth, runs in the top five for most of the afternoon, and recovers from having to take on slicks sooner than he wanted (because his fuel was on the brink of being exhausted) to take a fine fourth.

Trulli is the first man to hit the barriers in practice, and isn't happy with his car, despite qualifying eighth. Glock just misses the Q3 cut in 11th.

They both have miserable races. Glock spins three times (removing his front wing on the barriers in the first one, and taking chunks out of his rear wing in the second) and finishes 12th, but still beats Trulli, whose early switch to extreme wets doesn't pay off when they crumble on the drying track.

Vettel and Bourdais are perturbed by the new car at first, with the latter taking 16th and Vettel 18th-fastest but demoted for having to fit a new gearbox due to the STR3's different design.

Bourdais crashes early in the race, collecting Coulthard as he hits the barriers, but Vettel stars in the wet again. He keeps pace with the upper midfield crowd, times his tyre change perfectly, and thrills his team with fifth place.

Button is mighty in the wet part of third practice, but both the Briton and teammate Barrichello find their last Q2 laps ruined by Coulthard's crash, so have to start 12th and 15th.

While Button tangles with Heidfeld on the first lap, is later rammed by Kovalainen, and finally finishes 11th, Barrichello drives a strong race to finish sixth and score his first points in a year and a half.

A potentially incredible weekend ends in tears and misery. Both Fisichella and Sutil show promise in practice, setting top ten times on Thursday morning and Saturday morning respectively.

They qualify on the back row again, though, with Fisichella picking up an irrelevant gearbox penalty (he was slowest in qualifying anyway) following a problem in practice. More gearbox gremlins then ruin - and eventually end - his race.

But Sutil flies and is up to fourth on merit before being rammed into retirement by Raikkonen.

Hamilton looks the most likely winner after practice, and so it proves - but only after Ferrari sweep the front row, and he sustains a puncture after hitting the wall early in the race. A change of strategy at the resultant pitstop allows him to convert a disaster into a victory, as McLaren fill up and run long enough to only pit again at the ideal moment for dry tyres.

More bad luck for Kovalainen: a clutch problem forces him to start from the pitlane and he spends most of the afternoon in traffic, finally salvaging eighth at the end.

Lap-by-Lap

Formation lap: Fourth-fastest qualifier Heikki Kovalainen is left on the grid: mechanics push him to the pits.

Jenson Button with a damaged front wing after his tangle with Nick Heidfeld © LAT

Lap 1: On pole position for the first time in Monaco, Felipe Massa leads away well on a damp track. Lewis Hamilton outruns Kimi Raikkonen into second and Robert Kubica grabs fourth from Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg (who clips Alonso at the hairpin), Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock, Nick Heidfeld, Kazuki Nakajima, Mark Webber, David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastien Bourdais, Nelson Piquet, Adrian Sutil, Sebastian Vettel, Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen.

Jenson Button pits after losing his nose against one of Heidfeld's rear wheels at the chicane.

Lap 2: Massa leads by 1.3 seconds. Webber passes Nakajima. Sutil passes Piquet.

Lap 3: Rosberg pits for a fresh nose. Sutil passes Bourdais.

Lap 4: Massa laps in 1:34.600 to lead by 2.6 seconds. Glock spins and pits for a new nose. Vettel passes Piquet.

Lap 6: Hamilton clips the barriers at Tabac and pits with a damaged right rear wheel. Massa leads Raikkonen by 12.0 seconds. Hamilton drops to fifth.

Lap 7: Bourdais passes Sutil.

Lap 8: Alonso crashes at Massenet and makes it back to the pits. Coulthard and Bourdais go off at the same spot - permanently, in both cases. Piquet passes Vettel. The safety car is deployed.

Lap 11: Restart. Raikkonen is handed a drive-through penalty because his tyres were not fully fitted when the three-minute board was shown on the grid. Massa leads by 3.0 seconds from Raikkonen, Kubica, Hamilton, Heidfeld, Webber and Alonso. Piquet passes Sutil. Kovalainen passes Fisichella.

The Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais and Red Bull of David Coulthard are craned away © LAT

Lap 12: Alonso passes Webber at Mirabeau. Rosberg and Glock pass Fisichella when the latter skates across the chicane.

Lap 13: Raikkonen serves his penalty. Button passes Fisichella.

Lap 14: Alonso pushes Heidfeld into a spin at the hairpin. Webber rams Alonso and most of the midfield comes to a halt. Alonso and Rosberg pit at the lap's end. Sutil vaults from 11th to seventh.

Lap 15: Trulli passes Barrichello.

Lap 16: Massa spins at Ste Devote. Kubica leads.

Lap 17: Heidfeld slows and heads for the pits. Trulli and Barrichello pass Nakajima.

Lap 18: Fastest lap to Kubica: 1:34.529.

Lap 19: Massa posts a 1m34.002: he trails by 1.4 seconds. Rosberg, 17th, laps in 1:33.273.

Lap 20: Rosberg goes faster again: 1:33.214.

Lap 21: Kubica laps in 1:33.218. Vettel passes Piquet.

Lap 22: Massa sets fastest lap: 1:32.703. The gap is 1.9 seconds.

Lap 23: Massa goes faster again: 1:32.163. The deficit is down to 1.7 seconds as the track dries. Kovalainen passes Piquet and Vettel.

Lap 24: Kubica 1:31.805, Massa 1:31.749: gap 1.7 seconds. Piquet and Vettel swap places again.

Adrian Sutil, Force India © LAT

Lap 25: Kubica posts a 1:31.156.

Lap 26: Kubica pits.

Lap 27: Raikkonen goes straight on at Ste Dévote: his front wing is damaged and he pits at the end of the lap. He drops to sixth. Massa leads Hamilton by 16.5 seconds.

Lap 28: Massa laps in 1:30.749. He leads by 17.3 seconds.

Lap 31: Fastest lap to Hamilton: 1:30.553. He trails by 16.0 seconds. Webber then beats it: 1:30.388.

Lap 32: Massa posts a 1:30.896, Webber a 1:29.880.

Lap 33: Massa pits and rejoins second, ahead of Kubica. Webber laps in 1:29.535.

Lap 34: The new leader Hamilton laps in 1:29.428. He leads Massa by 13.2 seconds. Kovalainen pits.

Lap 36: Webber posts a 1:29.368, Sutil a 1:29.292. Vettel repasses Piquet.

Lap 37: Webber posts a 1:29.055, Sutil a 1:29.043. Trulli pits.

Lap 38: The lapped Glock spins into the tyres at Mirabeau and pits at the lap's end. Fisichella pits to retire.

Lap 40: Hamilton laps in 1:28.665. He leads by 18.0 seconds.

Nelsinho Piquet reflects on his first race at Monaco © XPB/LAT

Lap 41: Hamilton laps in 1:27.385: the lead is now 21.6 seconds. Barrichello posts a 1:27.168.

Lap 42: Barrichello goes quicker still: 1:26.978.

Lap 43: Hamilton leads Massa by 24.9 seconds. Kubica is another 6.1 seconds back in third. Webber, fourth, laps in 1:26.921. Sutil and Raikkonen complete the top six. Rosberg passes Button.

Lap 44: Webber laps in 1:26.727: he is catching Kubica. Alonso pits and takes on dry tyres.

Lap 46: Hamilton posts a 1:26.546. Massa is 28.1 seconds adrift. Webber loses 3.0 seconds to Kubica because of traffic. Piquet pits. He plumps for dries and crashes soon afterwards, at Ste Dévote.

Lap 47: Kubica laps in 1:26.371. Alonso appears to be struggling on dries.

Lap 48: Webber pits, opts for dries and drops off the pace. Rosberg posts a 1:25.256. Glock pits.

Lap 49: Kovalainen pits.

Lap 52: Alonso, two laps adrift, is now going as quickly as those on wets.

Lap 53: Hamilton leads Massa by 37.6 seconds. Alonso sets fastest lap: 1:24.767. Kubica and Sutil pit for dries.

Lap 54: Hamilton pits: he rejoins, in the lead, on dries. Massa sets a personal best - 1:27.161 - on intermediates. Button spins at the chicane after a nudge from Kovalainen. Barrichello pits.

Felipe Massa holds off Robert Kubica © LAT

Lap 56: Hamilton leads by 15.4 seconds. Massa pits and rejoins on super-soft dries. He almost loses control as he rejoins behind Kubica. Kovalainen is presently the quickest driver on the track: 1:22.648.

Lap 57: Hamilton leads Kubica and Massa. Raikkonen pits from fourth and loses a place to Sutil. Webber lies sixth. The rest, headed by Vettel and Barrichello, are lapped. Kovalainen, 11th and a lap in arrears, posts a 1:20.801.

Lap 62: Rosberg crashes heavily at the Swimming Pool. With debris all across the track, the safety car is deployed again. Hamilton leads Kubica, Massa, Sutil, Raikkonen and Webber. Vettel, Barrichello, Nakajima and Kovalainen are one lap down. Alonso, Glock and Trulli have been lapped twice. Heidfeld is still running right at the back.

Lap 68: Restart. Raikkonen almost loses it at the tunnel exit and rams Sutil at the chicane. He pits for another front wing; Sutil is forced to retire. On cold tyres Hamilton sets a personal best: 1:21.147.

Lap 69: Hamilton posts a 1:19.992...

Lap 70: ...and a 1:19.006. He leads Kubica by 3.4 seconds. Kovalainen laps in 1:18.897.

Lap 71: Raikkonen, now ninth, laps in 1:18.008.

Lap 76: The race ends two laps early due to the two-hour time limit. Hamilton wins by 3.064 seconds from Kubica, Massa, Webber, Vettel, Barrichello, Nakajima, Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Alonso.