Monte Carlo: Lewis Hamilton overcame an early accident and wet conditions on Sunday to win the Monaco Grand Prix and take the lead in the Formula One championship.

The McLaren driver, who started third on the grid, finished three seconds ahead of BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica while pole sitter Felipe Massa of Ferrari was third at Formula One’s most famous race.

Hamilton swiped the wall early on but took advantage of Massa’s mistake on the slick street circuit to earn his sixth career win. Massa ran off the track 25 laps in to lose the lead with Hamilton. Hamilton improved to 38 points in the overall standings, three better than defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who finished out of the points in ninth. Raikkonen began with a drive-through penalty and culminated with an accident involving Force India driver Adrian Sutil.