Monaco 2006: Hamilton in cruise mode.

Lewis Hamilton eased to his third GP2 Series win of the year with a comfortable victory in the blue riband Monaco event that will do little to deter his admirers in the Formula One paddock.

Making a rare good start, the Briton was well ahead of the chaos that engulfed the midfield at Ste Devote on the opening lap, and he was able to cruise away at the head of the pack, opening up a second or so over closest rival Franck Perera in the first couple of tours. Thereafter, it was all plain sailing for the ART Grand Prix driver, who was never challenged over the 45 laps.

Perera was equally comfortable in second spot, while the rest of the pack seemed to be squabbling over third spot. Olivier Pla held the place initially, but crashed out on lap three, allowing team-mate Clivio Piccione to inherit the position. The pit-stops proved crucial, however, and the second ART entry of Alex Premat was ideally placed to inherit the place when the mandatory - as opposed to necessary - stops panned out.

Piccione eventually came home fourth, with Andreas Zuber also opening his account for the season in fifth. Felix Porteiro brought further points to the Campos team, while Michael Ammermuller and Sergio Hernandez inherited the final positions after Ferdinando Monfardini scuppered Ernesto Viso's rise from 24th and Hiroki Yoshimoto ran out of road at Rascasse, both on lap 24.

There were no points for series leader Nelson Piquet Jr, who found himself caught up in the mayhem at turn one that accounted for both Tristan Gommendy and Nicolas Lapierre. The Brazilian dropped a lap down after requiring repairs and stopped on the final tour after spinning at the chicane.

The race for victory was effectively decided as the lights went out, with Hamilton making a perfect getaway, with Perera opting to tuck in under the Briton's rear wing rather than try a banzai move into Ste Devote. While the leaders all erred on the side of caution, and subsequently made it through the first corner safely - with Pla jumping to third and Piccione fourth at the expense of Gianmaria Bruni and Premat - there was mayhem further back, as Gommendy made contact with Jose Maria Lopez.

The Frenchman was launched into the air and into the back of compatriot Lapierre. The contact caused a chain reaction with the Arden car forced into and over the rear of Lucas di Grassi's Durango machine. Teenager Javier Villa was caught up in the chaos, ending his hopes of a strong result from 13th on the grid, as were the slow-starting Bruni, Xandi Negrao and Piquet. Gommendy, Lapierre, Villa and Negrao were out on the spot - the Arden driver taking time to leave the run-off area and clearly in some pain as he was taken to hospital for checks - while Adam Carroll retired at Casino Square and Bruni in the pits having limped home.

The wreckage, however, was cleared with clinical efficiency and, with no safety car needed, the race continued apace. Incredibly, Pla went out after hitting the kerbs at Swimming Poll while under pressure from his team-mate on lap three, leaving Piccione - who hit the same kerb and retired last year - in a podium position at his home race.

Hamilton and Perera, meanwhile, were exchanging fastest laps, continuing their battle from qualifying when both appeared to be head-and-shoulders above the rest. The pace only settled down after 15 laps, by which time Hamilton had been able to pull out a comfortable lead of ten seconds.

Perera pitted on lap 13, with the leader following suit three laps later. Incredibly, the Briton emerged with his lead still intact, ahead of the now second-placed Zuber, who had yet to stop. Perera, however, had been flying on fresh rubber and Hamilton's ten-second gap had been reduced to just three seconds by the Frenchman when Zuber peeled into the pits. The pair were never closer together than those three seconds, however, as they scythed their way through the field, lapping everyone bar the top five.

"It's quite an emotional experience winning here in Monaco - it's historic, and it's something that, growing up, you dream of," Hamilton admitted after coming home just over eight seconds ahead of the DAMS driver, "To come into GP2 in only my first year and win here, and from pole... I couldn't ask for more."

Perera, too, was happy with his afternoon's work, finally opening an account in the F1 feeder series after a number of close calls.

"We have had the speed, but we haven't had the chance, and this weekend was perfect because now we can focus, be more relaxed, and we know we can fight for the top three at all the other races," Perera said later.

Premat used the pit-stops to get ahead of Piccione, but the local driver was determined to get a home podium after a slow stop and pushed for all he was worth, eventually finishing just 0.9secs behind the ART Grand Prix driver.

"The feeling is great," Premat said after another podium, "We had a great strategy to get out in front of Piccione and I am really happy."

Zuber came home fifth to record his first points of the season, adding his name to Piccione's on an expanded scoreboard after Trident Racing's bad luck transferred itself to team-mate Bruni.

Porteiro finished sixth on what started out as a good afternoon for Campos Racing, with team-mate Adrian Valles running in the points early on, but falling foul of an early pit-stop that left him trapped behind Jason Tahinci on the season's tightest track. The Valencia podium visitor finally found a way past his Turkish rival, but became the race's final classified retirement when he stopped on lap 39.

Tahinci proved to be something of a roadblock for the faster men, before di Grassi put the field out of its misery by nerfing the Turk into a spin and retirement at the Nouvelle Chicane. Somehow, the Durango car wasn't badly damaged in the contact under braking, and the Brazilian was able to go on to collect a point for fastest lap - his first score of a season that appeared set to continue on a downward spiral when his rear wing was smashed by Lapierre's airborne car on lap one.

Ammermuller and Hernandez were part of a train dicing for the final points around half-distance, but found themselves elevated into the top eight by a sequence of events that ended one of the race's comebacks and possibly its best battle approaching the final stages.

Viso, having been confined to 24th on the grid by a repeat of his 2005 qualifying accident at Ste Devote, somehow avoided the carnage triggered by iSport team-mate Gommendy at the same corner, and emerged in eleventh place, with points a definite possibility with the pit-stops and 45 laps of intense concentration to come. That possibility looked stronger on lap 23, as he was up to ninth with two of the top eight still top stop, but Monfardini had other ideas.

The Italian was running two places behind Viso at the time, harrying Ammermuller for all he was worth, while Viso trailed a group headed by BCN Yoshimoto and containing the lapped Piquet Jr. Desperate to keep tabs on the group ahead, Monfardini finally made his move on Ammermuller at the chicane, but left his braking so late that he barely stopped at all. The DAMS machine ripped across the front of Viso as he turned into the left-hander, taking the Venezuelan's front wing with it but somehow avoiding more serious contact, and then rejoining in the midst of the throng ahead. Although he pitted at the end of the lap, Monfardini returned to claim ninth place, while Viso was forced to call it a day.

While eight seconds separated first and second, the rest of the field was a massive 30 seconds adrift, with just five cars on the lead lap and 14 either in the barriers or the pits. Yoshimoto overshot Rascasse under braking just seconds after Viso had had his wings clipped, while BCN team-mate Timo Glock, Lopez and Giorgio Pantano added further pre-race tips to the list of retirements.

Hamilton now carries a ten-point lead into his home round at Silverstone in two weeks' time, although whether that will be enough to add thousands to the gate remains to be seen as the football World Cup gets into full swing. Barring bizarre training accidents, however, the country's latest hero will have full use of both feet on 9-11 June.