Lewis Hamilton said he was in “no man’s land” on the way to fifth place during a frustrating Monaco Grand Prix.
Team boss Frederic Vasseur, though, stressed that the British driver was “not upset at all” after the race amid fresh focus on his radio exchanges with race engineer Ricciardo Adami.
After a penalty for impeding Max Verstappen in qualifying dropped him from what would have been a season-best fourth on the grid to seventh, Hamilton made up two places to finish fifth in the first-ever Monaco race that featured two mandatory pit stops.
However, he came home 30 seconds behind fourth-placed Verstappen and 51 seconds behind race winner Lando Norris. Sixth-placed Isack Hadjar finished 16 seconds behind him in sixth.
“I can’t comment on the rest of the race, for me I was in the middle of nowhere,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“I started seventh, was behind two cars for some time, managed to clear them, then I was in no man’s land after that.
“The gap was relatively big and I was not racing anyone. I needed a Safety Car or something to come into play but it didn’t happen. It was pretty straightforward from there.”
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Highlights of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Despite being cut adrift of the leading four cars after spending his first stint still in seventh behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and the Racing Bull of Hadjar, Adami told his driver on lap 17 to “push now, this is our race”.
But, speaking afterwards, Hamilton admitted he did not know why his engineer had said that.
“The information wasn’t exactly that clear,” he said. “I didn’t really understand ‘this is our race’.
“I didn’t know what I was fighting for. Was 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. I used up my tyres a lot in that moment but I was so far away from them anyway.”
Vasseur: Hamilton ‘not upset at all’ after race
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Lewis Hamilton was left questioning Ferrari’s feelings about his performance at the Monaco Grand Prix due to radio confusion.
A further radio exchange came to light after the race from Hamilton’s cool-down lap after he had taken the chequered flag.
After Adami confirmed his finishing position of fifth and said that Hamilton had “lost a lot of time in traffic”, the Briton thanked the team for the weekend, having repaired his car for qualifying after crashing in final practice, and said they “live to fight another day”.
Further around the lap, Hamilton then asked: “Are you upset with me or something?”
But asked about Hamilton’s exchanges with Adami both during the race and then on the slow-down lap, Vasseur said: “Because when the driver is asking something between turn one and turn three, we have to wait [until] the tunnel to reply, to avoid to speak with him during the corners.
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Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz reflects on all the big talking points from the Monaco Grand Prix.
“It’s not that we are sleeping, it’s not that we are having a beer on the pit wall, it’s just because we have a section of the track, where we agreed before to speak with him.
“Honestly, it’s not a tension that the guy is asking something. He’s between the wall, he’s under pressure, he’s fighting.
“I spoke with him after the race, he was not upset at all.”
F1’s European triple header concludes with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, with live coverage starting from Friday on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
