Monaco GP column for China Daily

Famous for its casino, it was perhaps appropriate Monaco's Grand Prix highlighted how luck is sewn and reaped in Formula 1.

Lewis Hamilton would probably have taken pole position had Sergio Perez not crashed heavily, causing the final qualifying session to be stopped. Fast all weekend and topping the time sheets in the first two segments of qualifying, Hamilton looked a likely race winner - as in 2008, his championship year.

The other nine drivers who had made it through to Q3 set a time at the beginning of the session. Hamilton instead chose to wait for a single run at the end, hoping to save for the race a set of fresh tires (the quantity of which are restricted). But after the concussed Perez and his crumpled Sauber had been carted off, there was precious little time. Hamilton skated around to only seventh fastest. Then even this solitary lap time was disallowed because a corner had been cut.

Ninth is not a place from which to win around the narrow streets of Monaco. Having collided with two of his rivals, (both of whom subsequently retired) Hamilton attracted less attention from the points scorers on Sunday than from the stewards - and, after some injudicious post-race comments, the media.

Hamilton had made his own bad luck by putting all his chips on a single run at the end of Q3. Given his pace, this was an unnecessarily aggressive strategy.

Meanwhile, a miscommunication within the team saw Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull shod with the harder of the two tire compounds at his first pit stop on lap 16. However this mistake meant the German had, as is required, already used both types of tires. The best plan therefore was to stay out of the pits and keep track position for as long as possible - while hoping for something to happen.

Immediately behind Vettel with six laps to go were the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso and the McLaren of Jenson Button. Their tires were respectively 17 and 31 laps younger than those on the Red Bull and a fight to the finish was in store - with Vettel the likely loser.

But various midfield cars tripped over each other sending the Russian driver Vitaly Petrov first into the fence and then, while the race was stopped, to the Princess Grace hospital. Like Perez before him Petrov was essentially unharmed and Vettel - now fitted with fresh tires - cantered to the finish line.

Less fortunate were former team owner Eddie Jordan and twice Monaco-winning driver David Coulthard. While Hamilton was helping the authorities with their investigations (and blaming the world for his woes), the duo were pushed into a swimming pool as part of Vettel's victory celebrations.