Lewis Hamilton claimed his maiden Formula 1 win yesterday in the Canadian Grand Prix in only his sixth F1 start.

The 22 year-old became the first black driver to win a Grand Prix. He prevailed in a tough race that was constantly interrupted by crashes.

Starting from his first ever pole position, Hamilton held the lead at the start as team mate Fernando Alonso ran wide, falling to third.

While the Briton drove like a racer with years of F1 behind him, his more experienced rivals struggled. Alonso went wide at the first corner on three more occasions

Robert Kubica suffered a shocking crash on lap 27 when he ploughed into a concrete wall at over 150 mph (see video below). Astonishingly the BMW driver escaped with nothing more than a sprained ankle.

The 22 year-old from Hertfordshire – the first black driver to race in Formula 1 – dedicated the victory to his dad, saying: “Without him this would not have been possible.”

But fellow British racer Anthony Davidson lost third place when his Super Aguri struck a beaver that ran onto the circuit.

Hamilton now leads the F1 championship with 48 points, Alonso second on 40. The next race is at Indianapolis this weekend. The British round is at Silverstone on July 6-8th.