Motor Sport/ Spanish Grand Prix: The voice over the in-car radio of Felipe Massa's Ferrari branded the Brazilian "Top dog, top dog" after the Brazilian had claimed his second consecutive grand prix victory yesterday but it was the man following Massa home who properly deserves that accolade this morning.

Lewis Hamilton, in his rookie F1 year, powered his McLaren home to second and the lead of the Formula One drivers' championship race.

The season has already been a remarkable one for the 22-year-old Briton. In Bahrain a month ago he became the first driver to score podium finishes in his opening three grands prix and in continuing that trend yesterday, he claimed another record, the youngest ever to lead the drivers' championship, two points ahead of team-mate and defending champion Fernando Alonso, who trailed home in third yesterday, his race compromised by a first-corner tussle with Massa.

"I keep saying I am living my dream, it is really true," said Hamilton after the race. "I have been working so hard for this and to come into only my fourth grand prix and come out leading the championship with the top two drivers here is incredible."

The race had started with the Briton in fourth place on the grid after Saturday's qualifying session had seen Massa and Alonso separate themselves from the pack with storming final lap, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen slotting into third.

But as the lights went out yesterday afternoon to signal the start, Alonso pushed his McLaren alongside pole-winner Massa into turn one, attempting a risky move around the outside to try to steal the lead in front of his home crowd.

The pair touched mid-corner and Alonso's car speared off across the gravel, rejoining the track in fourth and narrowly missing Hamilton and Raikkonen as that pair tussled for second - a fight won by the McLaren driver.

Fuelled more heavily than the Ferraris, Alonso was left with a difficult task and he never found the pace nor a change of strategy strong enough to close on the top placings.

"I thought I was very much in front of him in the first corner - and he didn't think so - and we touched each other. It was dangerous and we were lucky to finish," said a bitter-looking Alonso.

"We were very lucky because 99 per cent of the time in incidents like that you would finish the race in the first corner. I had braked late and I thought I was in front. He just did not think so."

Hamilton too was forced to cede to Massa's dominance. The Briton was fuelled more heavily than the Brazilian's Ferrari and, it appeared, was marginally slower on pure pace too and he could do nothing in the opening stint except hang on to Massa's coat-tails as the Brazilian rapidly opened a commanding lead.

Raikkonen's afternoon was prematurely ended when he dramatically slowed with an unspecified technical problem. The Finn crawled towards the pitlane and turned his car into the Ferrari garage. He had left the circuit before his team-mate had even made his final stop.

That was a formality for Massa who, by the time he made his second stop for fuel and tyres had carved out an 18-second lead on Hamilton. The win was facile. Massa now moves on to 27 points, one behind Alonso with Hamilton two beyond that.

"I think going into the race we knew we had a very good strategy and here you cannot overtake so the key was to get best positioning at the first corner," said Hamilton. "I got past Kimi but Fernando and Felipe touched and I was able to get past Fernando. It was close because when I came by he nearly hit me.

"We didn't have the pace of Felipe but we are a step closer and as I told him just now we will get him soon."

If there was any romance to the day it came in the shape of lowly Super Aguri, the team assembled in just three months at the beginning of last season and now amazingly challenging some of the grid's main players.

Yesterday Takuma Sato scored the team's first championship point in finishing eighth and crucially ended the race two places higher than Honda who supply Super Aguri with their engines.

There was added sweetness for Sato in that the Honda driver two places back was Rubens Barrichello, who had taken his drive at Honda last year.

There was also good news for Red Bull Racing as veteran David Coulthard brought home the team's first points of the season with four for a hard-won fifth place.

1 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1hr 31mins 36.230secs;

2 L Hamilton (Bri) McLaren 1:31:43.020;

3 F Alonso (Spn) McLaren 1:31:53.686;

4 R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:32:07.845;

5 D Coulthard (Bri) Red Bull 1:32:34.561;

6 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:32:35.768;

7 H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:32:38.358;

8 T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri at 1 lap;

9 G Fisichella (Ita) Renault at 1 lap;

10 R Barrichello (Bra) Honda at 1 lap;

11 A Davidson (Bri) Super Aguri at 1 lap;

12 J Button (Bri) Honda at 1 lap;

13 A Sutil (Ger) Spyker at 2 laps;

14 C Albers (Ned) Spyker at 2 laps. Not Classified: 15 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 50 laps completed; 16 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 48 laps ; 17 V Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 18 laps; 18 S Speed (USA) Scuderia Toro Rosso 11 laps; 19 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 10 laps; 20 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota 9 laps; 21 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 8 laps; 22 A Wurz (Aut) Williams 0 laps.

Drivers: 1 Hamilton 30; 2 Alonso 28; 3 Massa 27; 4 Raikkonen 22; 5 Heidfeld 15; 6 Kubica 8; 7 Fisichella 8; 8 Rosberg 5; 9 Coulthard 4; 10 Trulli 4; 11 Kovalainen 3, 12 Sato 1, 13 Schumacher 1.

Manufacturers: 1 McLaren 58; 2 Ferrari 49; 3 BMW Sauber 23; 4 Renault 11; 5 Toyota 5; 6 Williams 5; 7 Red Bull 4; 8 Super Aguri 1.