LEWIS HAMILTON yesterday rivalled the feat of his late hero Ayrton Senna by taming the streets of Monte Carlo, and then proclaimed: "I hope this is the start of something very special."

Hamilton could not have won in more dramatic circumstances as wet weather wreaked havoc across the Principality, creating a skidpan surface that caused numerous accidents.

One of those saw Hamilton slide into a barrier puncturing his right-rear tyre and forcing him into an unscheduled stop on lap six.

Fortunately, his McLaren did not sustain any other damage, and he proceeded to drive a majestic race throughout changing conditions and while chaos often ensued all around him.

This was Hamilton's 23rd grand prix and only Sir Jackie Stewart has won here in fewer races in the 58 years of the world championship.

Hamilton surpasses even Senna, who had to wait until his third year to claim victory on a circuit he eventually made his home.

The legendary Brazilian, who had an apartment overlooking the slow left-hand corner of Portier, won the race six times, notably five in a row from 1989- 1993.

Hamilton, at only 23, would love this to be the start of his own era as he said: This is the highlight of my career, and I'm sure it will be the highlight for the rest of my life.

To win here is an incredible feeling. It is very emotional - the last 20 laps were very emotional.

This is the best win ever, and even if I were to win here again - which I plan on doing - this is the best one.

Coming into this weekend, I said this was my favourite track, the one I wanted to win more than any other race in the world.

That's just because I've been watching it for years, watching the old races.

Ayrton won here so many times, and if he can win here, that means the best drivers have to win here, so I wanted to be able to do the same.

Now I've done it, it would be great to have a similar kind of era as him, but this weekend has shown that anything can happen.

I'm not going to say that next year I will win it, although next year I aim to come back and win it, but again anything can happen.

But I hope this is the start of something very special.'' Hamilton becomes only the fifth Briton to win the Monaco Grand Prix - Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Stewart and David Coulthard the others - and the first Englishman since Hill in 1969.

But it almost never happened for Hamilton after his early shunt, appreciating you also need luck as well as talent to win at this track.

As I've said time and time again, I've a lot of belief in myself and the team, but here you need to have things go your way,'' said Hamilton, who reclaims the lead in the title race by three points from Kimi Raikkonen, who could only manage ninth.

Today went my way, so I am very fortunate because at the time I was easily in second, and I knew I was easily quick enough to win the race, but I touched the wall.

When I did, basic instinct kicked in and I remained optimistic, thinking okay, I can still win'."

I went into the pits and the team got everything ready.

They're a very smart bunch of guys who reacted. They were incredible.

I came out fifth and I thought you can still do it, just don't do it again'.

On this sort of track you need a bit of luck, you need to be in the right place at the right time, and exactly that happened.'' To underline Hamilton's luck, he suffered a puncture on the warm-down lap during his celebrations due to debris on the track.

Of the early incidents, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and Timo Glock all required new nose cones for their Honda, Williams and Toyota, respectively.

Red Bull Racing's David Coulthard, only 24 hours after his 180mph qualifying smash, crashed out at Massanet, with Sebastien Bourdais in his Toro Rosso sliding into the back of the Scot, resulting in the first of two safety cars.

The second came 18 minutes from home - the race running a full two hours rather than 78 laps due to the conditions - as Nico Rosberg wrecked his Williams coming out of the swimming pool complex.

Hamilton had a 40-second lead at the time reduced to nothing, but kept his cool at the restart to take the chequered flag and spark wild celebrations.

The most heartbreaking accident came ten minutes from the end when Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari and crashed into the back of Adrian Sutil.

The German, who was running fourth at the time and was on course for Force India's first points, was later seen sobbing in the team garage.