IT was another pointless afternoon behind the wheel for world champion Lewis Hamilton in yesterday s Monaco Grand Prix. Starting from 19th on the grid after a precautionary overnight gearbox change, Herts F1 hero was always going to struggle to overtake

IT was another pointless afternoon behind the wheel for world champion Lewis Hamilton in yesterday's Monaco Grand Prix.

Starting from 19th on the grid after a precautionary overnight gearbox change, Herts' F1 hero was always going to struggle to overtake cars around the twisting streets of Monte Carlo.

His early struggle for pace was exacerbated by damage to a front-wing footplate, caused after he tangled with the BMW of Nick Heidfeld at Sainte Devote in the early laps.

Stopping early on lap 10 to change from option tyres, he resumed on primes.

But it was only after making his second stop, on lap 53, when he switched to another set of primes and changed the damaged nosebox that he was able to set a more representative pace.

Despite a late charge to overhaul Heidfeld, 24-year-old Lewis was unable to finish higher than 12th.

"It was an extremely tough race," said Hamilton afterwards.

"I raced my heart out and feel satisfied with my performance today."

Explaining what happened to his McLaren MP4-24, he said: "I damaged a footplate on my front wing quite early on when I clipped one of the BMWs going into Sainte Devote.

"It meant I had a lot of understeer throughout the race.

"Putting a new wing on made it a bit better, but it wasn't enough.

"In the closing laps, my tyres were going off just as much as Nick's and it was a bit too dangerous to attempt a pass.

"I was thinking about one of the Rocky films - in the first film, Rocky says 'I just want to see the end of the fight' and I got to the flag, pushing as hard as I could throughout the race."

Brawn GP's Jenson Button took the chequered flag for his fifth win of the season to further stretch his lead at the top of the championship.

It's the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul next on June 7.