Max Verstappen extended his lead at the top of the Formula One championship with a thrilling victory at the French Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton a little more than a lap to get to the Circuit Paul Ricard, his Red Bull team opting for two pit stops during the race while Hamilton and Mercedes lined up just once.
This meant the Dutch driver was quicker in the closing stages, overtaking Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas on lap 44 before setting his sights on Hamilton.
Red Bull's Sergio Pérez, who also pitched twice, completed the podium behind Hamilton as he overcame a frustrated Bottas in the closing stages.
While Mercedes will only regret pitching its drivers once, Red Bull has benefited from better strategy and secured its first double podium of 2021.
"When we called for a two-stop, luckily it paid off in the end. We had to work hard for it," Verstappen, who won his third win of the season, told ESPN.
The victory put Verstappen 12 points ahead of Hamilton in the overall standings and also marked a third consecutive race win for Red Bull.
"We've got to get some momentum, that's for sure," defending champion Hamilton told ESPN.
"You've seen that most of the time we lost today was pretty straightforward. We're definitely going to have to dig deeper and find out what that is."
Although Verstappen started in pole position, he lost his lead to Hamilton early in the race as he was thrown off the track at turn two.
But the drivers' first pit stop proved to be a pivotal moment as Hamilton, who was standing after his opponent, was undercut on lap 21 by Verstappen.
Verstappen again pitched on lap 34 to put Hamilton back in the lead, but it turned out to be a clever move by Red Bull, whose cars were much faster than Mercedes on new tires in the closing stages.
While chasing the first championship title of his career, Verstappen now has 13 wins to his name. The F1 season will resume next weekend with the Styrian Grand Prix in Austria.