McLaren's Lewis Hamilton survived a collision with the barriers to win an incident-packed Monaco Grand Prix and take the world championship lead.

The Englishman's early error punctured a rear tyre but worked in his favour in a race defined by changeable weather.

His team refuelled his car at the tyre change, enabling him to delay his final pit stop and build a decisive lead.

BMW's Robert Kubica beat Felipe Massa's Ferrari to second. Force India's Adrian Sutil lost fourth in a late collision.

The German's superb performance in an unfancied car on a difficult afternoon came to a heartbreaking end on lap 68.

Raikkonen, close behind Sutil after a late safety car period, got into a huge tank-slapper while breaking for the chicane, and cannoned into the back of Sutil.

The Finn was removed from contention when he was forced to take a drive-through penalty for not having his tyres fitted in time before the start of the race.

Massa and Kubica swapped places when the Brazilian was caught out by the slippery track at Sainte Devote on lap 16, but the Ferrari re-took the lead when the Pole made his first stop for fuel and tyres on lap 26.

Massa came in six laps later, and that was when Hamilton started to build his lead.

He set a succession of fastest laps as he extended his lead by more than a second a lap, and his lead was more than 30 seconds - comfortably enough to rejoin in the lead.

But the drama was not over.

The safety car came out for the second time when Nico Rosberg crashed heavily at the Swimming Pool - and the accident between Sutil and Raikkonen happened at the re-start.

The result gives Hamilton a one-point lead over Massa in the world championship standings, while Raikkonen, who was leading going into Monaco, is now four adrift of the lead.

Provisional result of Monaco Grand Prix after 76 laps*:

1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren two hours 0 minutes 42.742 seconds
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 3.064 secs behind
3 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari +4.811secs
4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault +19.295
5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari +24.657
6 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda +28.408
7 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota +30.180
8 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren +33.191
9 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari +33.792
10 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault one lap behind
11 Jenson Button (GB) Honda one lap
12 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota one lap
13 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota one lap
14 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber four laps
R Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 67 laps completed
16 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 59 laps
17 Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 47 laps
18 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 36 laps
19 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault seven laps
20 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari seven laps

* Race shortened by two laps because of two-hour time limit