Lewis Hamilton left baffled by Ferrari radio call

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.”