Written by:
Kevin Krefting
05/25/2008
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Hamilton's first career win at Monaco puts him atop the championship points table. (LAT Photo)
» More Photos
On a day when nearly everyone – including himself – made at least one major driving mistake, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton managed the best from the changing weather conditions at the Principality to clinch his first Monaco Grand Prix win.
Hamilton survived an early-race encounter with the barriers (which forced him to an unscheduled pit stop to change a flat tire) to prevail over BMW’s Robert Kubica and the pole-sitting Ferrari of Felipe Massa, who gave up the lead on lap 15 after running wide at the St. Devote corner when the racetrack was still very wet.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber drove a solid race to post his team’s best result of the year in fourth, inheriting two spots in a heartbreaking incident with 17 laps to go: Force India’s Adrian Sutil, who hadn’t put a wheel wrong all day and benefited from timely safety car periods to move up to fourth, was wiped out at the tunnel exit by Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari when the Finn lost the rear of his car under braking.
Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel climbed 14 positions to grab his first points of the year in fifth. Honda’s Rubens Barrichello broke a scoreless streak dating back to 2006 in sixth, and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen took the remaining points at the Principality.
The race started under wet conditions, and Massa held on to his P1 spot at the start while Hamilton was able to jump Raikkonen for the second position. The entire field opted for intermediate tires in the beginning, but a mistake by Ferrari meant the switch from wets to inters was done too late in the Finn’s case, earning him a drive-through penalty.
Sutil was arguably the star of the race before being wiped out by Raikkonen shortly after the final restart. (LAT Photo)
» More Photos
Not all was good at McLaren’s camp, however: Heikki Kovalainen’s car had to start from the pits after stalling before the formation lap.
As expected, the first wet lap was incident-filled. Honda’s Jenson Button and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld tangled, while Nico Rosberg lost the front wing of his Williams after running into the back of Fernando Alonso’s Renault.
On lap five, Hamilton made an apparently race-crippling mistake by running wide and tagging the barriers exiting the Tabac turn. A right-rear tire puncture meant an early stop for the Brit.
Hamilton was benefited, however, by the first safety car period of the day, triggered when Red Bull’s David Coulthard and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais both hit the Armco in the run-up to the Casino Square.
