Lando Norris cut McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri's Formula 1 world championship lead to three points by winning the Monaco Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc's Ferrari finished between the McLarens in second.
The mandated two-stop strategy failed to spice up the lead battle, though it did add some intrigue, and its main consequence was triggering extremely contentious team tactics incidents further down the field.
Norris was able to control most of the race, keeping Leclerc and Piastri at a safe distance.
But Max Verstappen and Red Bull created a curveball that closed the pack up in the race's final quarter.
Running long before his first stop didn't pay off for Verstappen as his pace faded before he could get far enough ahead of Piastri to jump him.
So Red Bull left Verstappen's final stop to the very last minute, just in case a safety car or red flag played in their hands.
The top four were nearly nose to tail when Verstappen finally pitted for the second time at the start of the last lap, dropping back to the fourth place he'd always been set for at worst anyway.
That freed Norris up to accelerate away and win by 3s over Leclerc and Piastri.
Lewis Hamilton's grid penalty left him behind slower cars until the first stops, after which he spent the afternoon in a lonely and distant fifth.
Racing Bulls and Williams's antics showed the unintended consequences of the two-stop rule and provided the race's biggest talking points.
Liam Lawson held the pack back to allow Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar to clear both his stops relatively early and consequently secure sixth. Esteban Ocon benefitted from the traffic gaps that created to claim seventh for Haas, and Fernando Alonso would've had the same gift had his Aston Martin not retired mid-race with smoke trailing from it.
Lawson's team player role wasn't costly for him as he was still able to take eighth due to the extreme team tactics Williams deployed further back.
Carlos Sainz slowed the pace to give Alex Albon pitstop space, and then Albon returned the favour to give Sainz chance to take both his pitstops.
That enraged Mercedes, which decided against early pitstops despite its qualifying dramas, leaving it 14th and 15th on the grid, instead leaving its stops very late.
Both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli shot over the chicane runoff avoiding the slow-moving Albon, and the frustrated Russell decided not to give the place back and instead just accept a penalty. He was given a drivethrough, which left him 11th behind Albon and Sainz.
There had been speculation that many drivers would immediately make pitstops and try to clear their mandatory tyre changes then benefit if safety cars closed the pack up before others could pit. A lap one virtual safety car for Gabriel Bortoleto going into the Portier barriers in a brush with Antonelli made that tactic more tempting still.
But the lap one stop didn't pay off for anyone who tried it. Yuki Tsunoda's Red Bull got stuck behind the Williams/Mercedes antics and ended up 17th by the time he'd taken his final stop right at the end, and Pierre Gasly ploughed his Alpine into the Red Bull early on while on the same strategy.
Race result
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
- Esteban Ocon (Haas)
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Carlos Sainz (Williams)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Ollie Bearman (Haas)
- Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
DNF: Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
