Young gun Hamilton wins first Grand Prix

Britain's Lewis Hamilton has won his first Grand Prix following a superb performance from he 22-year-old McLaren driver in Canada.

Hamilton finished ahead of Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) and Austria's Alexander Wurz (Williams).

Starting from pole position, it was simply a matter of concentration for Hamilton, and despite his tender years, he continued to perform superbly as he had done all race.

After one hour and 46 minutes of pressurised racing under extreme conditions, Hamilton took the chequered flag for his first Formula One victory to his understandable delight.

Heidfeld followed home in second place, with Alexander Wurz third in his Williams after starting 20th.

The chaos of the accidents and safety cars had promoted Heikki Kovalainen to fourth after he had started at the back of the grid due to en engine problem earlier in the weekend.

Raikkonen managed fifth for Ferrari, followed by the Super Aguri of Takuma Sato, who had sensationally passed Alonso on lap 58 to claim sixth ahead of the Spaniard who was seventh.

The final point went to the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher.

Hamilton now leads the drivers' standings by eight points from Alonso going into next weekend's United States Grand Prix.

The race was marred somewhat by an horrendous accident involving the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica on the 26th lap.

The safety car had only just returned to the garage after marshals had cleared Sutil’s car from the circuit, when the Polish driver appeared to run wide on the turn approaching the hairpin bend, his car hitting a kerb and launching into the air.

Kubica careered into the wall, bounced off and barrel-rolled back across the track, eventually coming to a halt in a barrier with just the car’s monocoque intact.

After being attended to by marshals and track medics, the 22-year-old was eventually retrieved and taken to the nearby medical centre, where he was diagnosed with a broken leg.