25/05/2025 18:45
Lewis Hamilton has voiced confusion over a radio call delivered to
him during the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton was running in seventh
place in the early stages of the race after being handed a
three-place grid penalty after impeding Max Verstappen during
qualifying. The seven-time champion was told to push during his
first pit stop phase of the race, as Ferrari looked to consolidate
position by completing an overcut on Isack Hadjar. His race
engineer Riccardo Adami told him 'this is our race', prompting
Hamilton to increase his pace - but he was left without any
indication as to why he needed to do so. "It wasn't very clear,"
Hamilton told Sky F1 . "The information wasn't exactly that clear.
I didn't really understand 'this is our race'. "I didn't know what
I was fighting for. Am I fighting for the next spot ahead? "But in
actual fact, when I look at the data, I wasn't anywhere near any of
the guys up front. So I used up my tyres a lot in that moment, I
was so far away from them." The Monaco race, for the first time
ever, featured a mandatory two-pit stop rule. Asked for his
thoughts on the rule change, Hamilton asserted his unfavourable
track position made it difficult to gauge from his perspective. "I
can't comment on the rest of the race," he added. "For me, I was
kind of in the middle of nowhere. With the penalty I had, I
obviously started seventh. "I was obviously behind two cars for
some time, I managed to clear them. "I was kind of just in No Man's
Land after that. The gap was quite I relatively big, and I was
really not racing anyway. I needed a safety car or something to
come into play."
