An ill-judged gamble by Mercedes cost Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton his fourth win of the season, gifting his teammate and rival Nico Rosberg a third straight win at the Monaco Grand Prix and putting him firmly back in the title race.
Rosberg could never have imagined hitting the Monte Carlo jackpot in such a way, as Hamilton was suddenly called back to the pits for a tyre change shortly after a crash involving teenager Max Verstappen led to a safety car being deployed.
as an astonishing mistake from F1's ultra-dominant team, with Hamilton more than 15 seconds ahead at that point. It led to an apology from Mercedes head of motorsport Toto Wolff, who seemed more baffled than convincing, as he explained that the decision was based on a technological data feed rather than any strategy.
"This is a day when we simply have to say sorry to our driver, because our mistake cost him the victory here.
What happened? In simple terms, we got our numbers wrong."
Briton Hamilton did not look happy, walking slowly and despondently out of his car with his head down. "I can't really express the way I feel at the moment, so I won't even attempt to," he said.
Rosberg, who won the Spanish GP two weeks ago, is now just 10 points behind after securing back-to-back wins for the first time in his career. Four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel is less of a threat, but the Ferrari driver finished second to close the gap on Hamilton to 28 points heading into the Canadian GP in two weeks.
As well as securing his 10th career win, Rosberg became the first driver since Ayrton Senna to win Monaco three straight times.