Ferrari explained the loss of time that Lewis Hamilton felt like he was on “Norman Land” during the F1 Monaco Grand Prix.
After a penalty for thwarting Max Verstappen in qualifying dropped him from a season-high fourth on the grid to seventh, Hamilton was one of the few drivers to take the position to take fifth place in Sunday’s race.
However, the seven-time F1 World Champion drifted through the leader well, crossing the line 51 seconds behind the race-winning Randnoris after a confused loss of time following the second and final pit stops.
Hamilton remained confused by his run to the far P5 of the Principality.
“I can’t comment on the rest of the race. For me, I was nowhere,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after the race.
“I started at the seventh and was behind two cars for a while and managed to get them done. After that, I was no one there.
“The gap was relatively large and I wasn’t racing anyone. I needed something for a safety car or something to work, but that didn’t happen. It was pretty easy from there.”
Hamilton continued to admit that he didn’t fully understand communication from race engineer Ricardo Adami.
“The information wasn’t that clear. I didn’t really understand that ‘this is our race’,” Hamilton said.
“I didn’t know what I was fighting for. Were you fighting for the next place?
“But in reality, looking at the data, I wasn’t close to the people in front of me. I used up a lot of tires at that moment, but I was just far away anyway.”
Traffic hurts Lewis Hamilton’s race
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasser said losing 10 seconds while navigating back markers is a contributing factor.
“He lost nearly 10 seconds more than the others when he joined a group of wrapped cars,” Vasseur told Media, including Crash.Net.
“I don’t remember who was in this group, but it was a difficult time for him.
“The fact that others were probably joining this group and stuffing it one after the other was much easier. They knew a bit of the people who came with Lewis and he was alone.
“Compared to Verstappen, who was ahead at this stage, he lost something like 10 seconds in this sequence.”
