Starting third on the grid — par for the course this season — Lewis Hamilton didn’t look a safe bet for his first Grand Prix win in Monte Carlo.

Lewis Hamilton wins Monaco Grand Prix 2008

That he did win is a sign maybe that Madame Fortune is beginning to smile on the British race ace again.

The drivers made their way to the start in light rain. After a single lap it was teeming down, turning the famous circuit into a skid pad. Hamilton started on the second row in third. He easily passed Kimi Raikkonen on the run to St Devote.

Felipe Massa seemingly led with ease in the early stages. Weather forecasters were telling the McLaren team that the rain would lessen throughout the race. Hamilton was filled up with extra fuel and returned to the race.

He slipped into cautious mode waiting for his opponents to make the errors. Fernando Alonso, in fourth, obliged on lap eight, clipping the wall at Mirabeu. On the same lap David Coulthard and Sebastien Bourdais came together on the run-up to Casino Square to bring out the safety car.

From then on, mayhem ruled and the title was anyone’s — anyone’s, that is, who had the wet-weather skills of an Ayton Senna and the speed of Lewis Hamilton.

As his enemies tumbled from grace, Lewis Hamilton regained his lead in the Formula One Drivers’ Championship.

A notable victory — his sixth GP win — and one which sets him up for a great finish to the season. To come through all the bad luck and error-strewn campaigns this season with a win at Monte Carlo is surely an omen.

All he now has to contend with is the ferocious pace of an in-form Felipe Massa in a rock-star Ferrari and he’s home and dry.

Lewis Hamilton crashed his McLaren into a tyre barrier at speed during today’s practice session for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Despite being shaken up he ended with the fourth-quickest time, almost 1.5 seconds down on Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

Judging by these events, Massa looks to be the man to beat in the race proper. He has been criticized for not being able to handle the new rules on drivers’ aids in the cars.

His best lap time of one minute 31.240 seconds was said to be a whole second quicker than his pole position lap of a year ago.

World champion team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was almost a second down, with Heikki Kovalainen third in his McLaren, just edging Hamilton into fourth.

BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica posted the fifth-best lap, followed by Nico Rosberg for Williams, David Coulthard in his Red Bull, the second Williams of Kazuki Nakajima, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais and the Renault of Nelson Piquet.

Jenson Button was 11th in his Honda, with Super Aguri’s Anthony Davidson bringing up the rear over four seconds down.

You make your own luck, it’s said. Hamilton seems to swing from extremely fortunate to desperately unlucky. Given his car is very reliable, he needs to stabilize his performance now if he’s to live up to last season’s sensational start to his career.

Kimi Raikkonen won the Malaysian Grand Prix in a Ferrari revival following the problems of the opening race in Melbourne.

For Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, it was a return to the bad luck and avoidable mistakes that cost him the title at the end of last season.

Given a five place grid penalty for impeding Nick Heidfeld’s BMW in Qualifying, he was then the hapless victim of a pit-stop blunder by his team and ran out of water during the race.

In the end he finished fifth, probably the best he could hope for in the trying circumstances and the scorching heat of the race.

In the pits it was apparently a £1,000 titanium wheel nut that caused the problem. Hamilton found himself parked up for nearly 20 seconds during his first refuel, with his mechanics panicking over the front, right wheel.

When he finally got underway, he was in midfield and being held up by Mark Webber’s Red Bull. That was it until the next time.

“I didn’t have any water all race,” he said after confessing he could have done with a cold beer. “But the great thing is my fitness. Physically, I felt fine and was able to push all race. I feel better than last year.”

Felipe Massa started on pole and kept in front until the first round of pit stops. Then Raikkonen put in one super-fast lap to come out in front.

A Ferrari one-two looked assured, only for Massa to spin off on lap 31 when he clipped the kerb and lost control entering the next corner. Some commentators are wondering whether Massa can handle the car now that driver aids have been removed. Raikkonen proved he can, despite his poor performance in Melbourne which relegated him to eighth place.

“We’ve had a very complicated start to the season, but I have certainly not lost faith in the team. We can still do better,” said Raikkonen.

Hamilton still leads the Drivers’ Championship by three points. He said: “It was a difficult weekend. So so. Comme ci, comme ca. We can improve but I look forward to the next race still leading. We still got four points and that is key. I did the best job I could. At least the reliability of the car was great and we had good pace. We have to make sure we get the guns working next time and do a better job in qualifying. We can bounce back.”

He will be hoping that McLaren can recapture their mojo at Bahrain in two weeks.

It’s beginning to look good for wunderkind racer Lewis Hamilton, McLaren’s star driver in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

After today’s practice session Hamilton was again top dog. Challengers were there none.

Given the pace of his car he must be favourite for taking pole on race day.