Double world champion Fernando Alonso led a McLaren one-two in the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday to cut team mate Lewis Hamilton's lead to three points with four races remaining.
Hamilton, 22, had another highly impressive afternoon but the British rookie was doomed to follow in the Spaniard's slipstream after his team mate secured pole position on Saturday.
He crossed the line six seconds behind Alonso, who celebrated his 19th career win and fourth of the season in a highly-charged and emotional race against a backdrop of Ferrari allegations against the team.
It was McLaren's first one-two finish at Monza but fourth in 13 races.
“It was the perfect weekend for me,” said Alonso. “Sometimes everything seems to go in the right direction and you feel in a good way.”
Hamilton now has 92 points to Alonso's 89 in what looks increasingly like a two-man battle, dependant on the outcome of a hearing of the governing body in Paris on Thursday that could wreck their title hopes.
Ferrari, winners four times in the previous five seasons at the temple of Italian motorsport, had to make do with Kimi Raikkonen's third place. The Finn, struggling with a sore neck after a heavy crash on Saturday, is now 18 points adrift of Hamilton and was overtaken by the Briton after briefly taking second place at the rookie's second and final pitstop.
“The car wasn't too bad actually,” said Raikkonen, who was on a one-stop strategy. “I couldn't keep my head up under braking. My neck was in not very good shape after yesterday.”
On a sunny but miserable afternoon for Ferrari, ever more McLaren's bitter enemies since a spying row erupted between the two in July, Brazilian Felipe Massa was forced to retire with a rear suspension problem with just 10 laps gone.
He and Hamilton had banged wheels into the first corner as the Briton reclaimed second place after a poor start from the dirty side of the track.
The failure left Massa's title hopes in tatters, with the Brazilian now 23 points off the lead despite having three wins to his credit.
McLaren lead Ferrari by 166 points to 143 in the constructors' championship, pending Thursday's hearing and another appeal by the Mercedes-powered team to try and claim back 15 points lost in Hungary last month.