Oscar Piastri clinched victory in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint, leading team-mate Lando Norris home for a valuable McLaren one-two.
The Woking pair reversed their positions at the chequered flag, paying Piastri back for forfeiting his sprint victory in Brazil.
George Russell rounded out the top three, having been unable to get the better of the Australian driver over the 19 lap race.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc completed the top five with Lewis Hamilton just behind.
Nico Hulkenberg claimed two important points for Haas, helping grow the American team's advantage over Alpine and RB in the fight for sixth in the constructors' championship.
Max Verstappen closed out the points positions in eighth.
Full sprint report below.
Result Sprintrace - Lusail
Opening 10 laps
Lando Norris held off George Russell immediately upon race start, something that provided Oscar Piastri the opportunity to make it an early McLaren one-two.
It was a torrid opening lap for Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver falling from sixth on the grid to ninth and out of the points.
Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton, who has recently bemoaned his abilities got past Charles Leclerc up two places into fifth.
Further back, Liam Lawson was the biggest early faller. Having started tenth, the RB driver found himself in P17 and only just ahead of his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
Sergio Perez's difficult pit lane start was made even worse by his hesitancy upon the light going green, instantly getting overtaken by Franco Colapinto who lined up behind him and consigning him to last place for the time being.
By the start of the fourth lap of 19, Norris had earned himself a lead of over a second, keeping out of DRS range. It allowed Russell in third to apply pressure to Piastri, almost passing at the first corner. However, the Australian prevailed.
It prompted Norris to ease off slightly, aiding his team-mate with DRS support over subsequent laps. Maximising points a key requirement for McLaren, looking to make it consecutive sprint one-two finishes and further bolster its constructors' championship lead over Ferrari.
As the race started to settle into a rhythm, Verstappen was on the move and into the points, dispatching of Pierre Gasly's Alpine at the start of lap 8. Nico Hulkenberg would be his next hurdle in his recovery drive.
Meanwhile at the sharp end, Russell continued to apply pressure on the two McLarens, but lacked the ultimate pace to find a way past Piastri.
Zhou Guanyu was the only runner not to start on medium tyres, instead opting for softs in the hope of a safety car. By lap 10, the Stake driver was struggling and losing three seconds a lap. He would pit the following lap.
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Final half
As the one-third distance race entered its second act, McLaren shared instructions with Norris on how he can best help Piastri to break away from Russell's DRS range.
At the start of lap 13, Leclerc provided the best action so far, overtaking Hamilton for fifth place in a battle that ensued for a number of corners.
Norris' fastest lap deprived his team-mate at the end of that lap, allowing Russell to make a move. However, good defensive driving employed by the 23-year-old allowed him to retain second place.
On lap 15, Perez pitted for a change of nose. Whilst the Mexican had no issue with his discarded one, it appeared the Milton Keynes team wanted to test a different front wing with the 34-year-old unable to make any progress with the first.
The problems would not be isolated to his side of the garage, as his team-mate struggled to close in on Hulkenberg for seventh position.
It appeared all was said and done, but Norris decided to hand victory to Piastri in the last 100m of the race, paying his team-mate back for sacrificing the sprint win in Brazil.
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