Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth for Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton claimed his maiden Formula One victory at just the sixth attempt in an incident-packed Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

With five podium positions in his first five races, Hamilton made the next step in his sensational rookie season by claiming the first pole position of his short career on Saturday at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.

On Sunday, the Briton led from green light to chequered flag to regain the lead in the World Drivers Championship from McLaren team-mate and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso.

Alonso had a terrible day by his standards, finishing seventh, as McLaren's dominance shown at Monaco in the previous race and in practice and qualifying here was broken.

Germany's Nick Heidfeld claimed second place for BMW Sauber, with Alexander Wurz of Williams in third.

Yet as Hamilton drove to success there was drama in his rear-view mirrors throughout the 70 laps.

Poland's Robert Kubica was involved in an horrific crash in his BMW Sauber, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella were both thrown out of the race, while the safety car was as busy as the F1 machines.

Hamilton, accused earlier in the week of over-aggression off the grid by former world champion Jacques Villeneuve, got the perfect start from his first pole position.

The 22-year-old held his lead as Heidfeld stole a march on Alonso and tried to run down the inside of the young Briton heading into turn one.

Alonso added the drama this time, running wide at the first turn and cutting across Hamilton to return to the track before rejoining the race in third behind Heidfeld.

Kimi Raikkonen was the big loser at the front of the grid as team-mate Massa and Nico Rosberg got a jump while Heikki Kovalainen, sent to the back of the grid as penalty for spilling oil in practice yesterday, leapt from last to 18th among the 22 cars.

One of those was Jenson Button, whose problems with the Honda this season reached disastrous levels when he was left on the grid, pushed to the pit lane by marshals before finally giving up hope of getting into the race when his mechanics failed to start his car as his rivals started lap two. Honda would later cite transmission failure as the cause of Button's demise.

Spyker driver Christian Albers, who had started the race from the pit lane after pre-race problems, brushed a wall on lap five while Toro Rosso's Scott Speed had a minor shunt with Wurz on lap nine.

All the time Hamilton was building his lead at the front, up to 10.3 seconds on Heidfeld by lap 14 with Alonso losing ground as he once again went off the track at turn one - and again on lap 19.

Hamilton went into the pits on lap 22, ceding the lead briefly to Massa, but then the safety car came onto the track as Spyker's Adrian Sutil made heavy contact with a wall and came to a stop on the kerb unable to reach a run-off area.

When the pit lane re-opened with the yellow flag still out, Massa led the charge into the pits, leaving Hamilton back in front with Heidfeld second and Alonso third.

The safety car was barely back in the pit lane however, when it was redeployed after an horrific crash for Kubica as he headed towards the L'Epingle hairpin on lap 28.

The Polish driver appeared to clip the Toyota of Jarno Trulli which sent his own car airborne and ploughing nose first into a wall before barrel-rolling across the track and sliding on the car's side along the opposite wall.

There were very nervous moments as Kubica was attended to in his car, after a crash which sent vast amounts of debris from the BMW Sauber flying across the track.

As the Pole was being extracted from his car and taken to the track medical centre, stewards were handing out 10-second stop/go penalties to zdboth Alonso and Rosberg for entering the pit lane as the safety car was on the track.  Sportal

2007 Canadian Formula One Arrival

In Italian: Canada, trionfa Hamilton - Pazzo GP, terrore Kubica

L'inglese della McLaren vince il primo GP della carriera davanti a Heidfeld e Wurz: è il nuovo leader del mondiale. Spaventoso incidente al polacco della Bmw (illeso, nelle prossime ore sarà dimesso). Le Ferrari: Raikkonen quinto, Massa squalificato. Alonso settimo.

Nel giorno di uno dei più pazzi GP mai visti è nato un campione, Lewis Hamilton. Dopo aver esordito in F.1, primo sogno realizzato, l’inglesino della McLaren ha coronato oggi a Montreal il secondo sogno, quello del primo GP vinto della carriera. Lo ha fatto al termine di una corsa che ha dominato dal primo all’ultimo giro con l’autorevolezza dei navigati campioni, con una serenità che visti i suoi 22 anni fa impressione. Tanto di cappello a Ron Dennis per aver scoperto e soprattutto dato fiducia a questo incredibile ragazzo.

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