Alonso, who now leads the title race on 38 points -  the same number as Hamilton but with two race wins to Hamiltons none, led by seven seconds after 20 laps with his British teammte recording the fastest lap of the race at the time, and Massa in third, more than a minute behind.

"It was a fantastic weekend," said Alonso, who also recorded the fastest lap of the race.

"I have never won with more than a minute to the third guy.

"For sure, this is the easiest and probably nicest victory so far," the 25 year-old added.

"It's not easy to enjoy driving here, and I did today thanks to a fantastic car."

It was the McLaren team's first one-two finish at the famous race on the unforgiving Mediterranean street circuit since 1989, in the the heyday of Brazilian Ayrton Senna, who won, and Alain Prost of France, who was second.

"I hit the barrier many times and I was fortunate that we've got a solid car," said Hamilton, who was told to take it easy by his team in the closing laps.

"It's strong enough to take the hit."

Second win for the season

It was Alonso's second win this season, following his maiden win for the team in Malaysia, and the team's second one-two after finishing in the same order in Kuala Lumpur.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was fourth for Renault, Poland's Robert Kubica fifth for BMW Sauber ahead of his team-mate German Nick Heidfeld.

Austrian Alex Wurz was seventh for Williams and Finn Kimi  Raikkonen, who started from 16th position on the grid, came home eighth to grab a point for Ferrari.

Straightforward race

The race did not produce a single notable passing move and was hardly an exciting exhibition of the thrills of Formula One as Alonso came home in a winning time of one hour 40 minutes and 29.329 seconds, at an average speed of more than 260kph, on the 3.340km circuit.

The race began under a cloudy sky with intermittent sunshine and some breeze, but the threat of rain diminished as Alonso made a smooth start and swept unchallenged down the road to Ste Devote and up the hill towards Casino Square ahead of Hamilton in second.

The convoy behind the two McLarens immediately settled down into a predictable order with Massa third ahead of Fisichella, Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg in his Williams.

Routine procession

In front of a big crowd estimated at more than 120,000 that included several well-known guests such as Hollywood actors Jude Law and Johnny Lee Miller, former Juventus and Czech Republic football star Pavel Nedved, and German tennis legend Boris Becker, the race soon turned into a routine procession.

"McLaren today showed a really incredible pace," said Massa.

"Even if I had pushed 150 percent of the limit, we would stay the same in the end.

"I'm just happy to finish on the podium."