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Nico Rosberg stormed to a fifth successive victory in Sunday evening's Bahrain Grand Prix, giving him 50 points from 50 at the first two races, as title rivals Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton hit trouble.
Rosberg jumped ahead of Hamilton at the start, before his Mercedes team-mate suffered contact, to take a lead he would not relinquish.
Kimi Räikkönen came home second, on the same three-stop strategy as Rosberg, while Hamilton recovered to third, limiting the damage.
Drama ensued before the start, with Vettel's V6 engine spectacularly giving up on the formation lap, which left him out of the race.
As the lights went out, minus Vettel's car up front, pole-sitter Hamilton again struggled to pull away, giving Rosberg a clear run down the inside.
Rosberg navigated Turn 1 without trouble, but behind, Hamilton was collected by the fast-starting Williams of Valtteri Bottas, tipping him into a half-spin.
Hamilton dropped down the order, while Bottas and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo suffered front wing damage as Felipe Massa slotted in behind Rosberg.
Bottas was later given a drive-through penalty for the clash.
Rosberg built up a solid lead in the early laps, and maintained it during the first round of pit-stops, as Räikkönen climbed to second, and Hamilton recovered to third.
Rosberg and Räikkönen used a Super Soft/Soft/Super Soft/Soft approach, while Hamilton opted for a Medium-shod second stint, opening up his strategic options.
Räikkönen began to close on the race lead after two slower stops for Rosberg, but the German soon responded, edging his lead out to 10 seconds by the finish.
Rosberg's win puts him 17 points clear of Hamilton in the standings.
Behind the top three, Daniel Ricciardo delivered a mature performance to take fourth for Red Bull, while Haas' Romain Grosjean starred again en route to fifth position.
Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen enjoyed a late stint on the Super Soft tyre en route to sixth, getting the better of senior team driver Daniil Kvyat, who had a messy evening.
Massa and Bottas slipped to eighth and ninth, while Stoffel Vandoorne took McLaren-Honda's first point of the season as he made his debut in place of Fernando Alonso.
Renault's Kevin Magnussen rose from the pit lane to 11th, ahead of Sauber's Marcus Ericsson and Manor's Pascal Wehrlein, the latter adding to a fine qualifying effort.
Felipe Nasr at one stage complained that his Sauber was "terrible to drive" en route to 14th place, in front of struggling Force India drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez.
Manor rookie Rio Haryanto was the last driver to finish.
Carlos Sainz Jr. picked up a puncture in a collision with Pérez, before reporting major steering issues and returning his car to the Toro Rosso garage at the midway stage.
Haas' Esteban Gutiérrez and McLaren's Esteban Gutiérrez both retired amid technical trouble early on, while Jolyon Palmer pitted his Renault at the end of the formation lap.