Lewis Hamilton repeatedly lobbied Ferrari to let him overtake his team mate Charles Leclerc after the pair made their first pit stops.

Ferrari issued a “hold position” order to Hamilton when Leclerc emerged from the pits ahead of him on lap 25.

Hamilton started on the medium tyre compound but did not have strong pace on them and made an early pit stop to switch to the softs. Leclerc started on softs and switched to mediums, and left the pits immediately in front of his team mate.

Ferrari did not want the two drivers to lose time racing each other and told Hamilton to “hold position” behind his team mate. That cost Hamilton 1.8 seconds as he followed the other Ferrari around the track.

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Hamilton lost more time while Leclerc got his medium rubber up to temperature and repeatedly asked Ferrari to let him by. However the team showed no desire to swap their positions.

Hamilton’s radio messages from his first pit stop

The poor performance of the medium tyre compound on Hamilton’s car led Ferrari to bring him in earlier than the two drivers ahead on softs:

Lap: 15/62 HAM: 1’38.185
Hamilton	They’re just pulling away up ahead, just got more grip. Understood.
Hamilton	Let me know where I can improve.
Carlos Santi	Exit five, one tenth there to improve.
Lap: 16/62 HAM: 1’38.462
Santi	Earlier entry 14 for better exit.
Santi	For Plan C, we need to pick up…
Hamilton	Grip dropping off.
Santi	Copy.
Hamilton	I don’t have any more pace.
Santi	Copy, then we move to Plan B.
Lap: 17/62 HAM: 1’39.173
Hamilton	So rear’s dropping off.
Santi	Copy that.
Santi	Flap update when you can.
Lap: 18/62 HAM: 1’44.182
Hamilton	I can hold it like this, but I just can’t get any faster.
Santi	Copy.
Santi	Flap update when you can.
Hamilton	Yeah, plus two.
Santi	B-bal 57.
Santi	And box, box, box,box.

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Hamilton lost some time behind Liam Lawson after rejoining the track but was able to lap up to one-and-a-half seconds faster than Leclerc:

Lap: 19/62 HAM: 1’54.442
Santi	We will be behind Lawson and we will find Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg behind. Out-lap critical, you have three second advantage pace.
Lap: 20/62 HAM: 1’38.278
Hamilton	I don’t know, I’ve got traffic, mate.
Santi	[Unclear] available.
Hamilton	Am I in trouble?
Lap: 21/62 HAM: 1’37.247
Santi	We are good. 36.5 target pace. We are good. Well done.
Lap: 22/62 HAM: 1’37.170
Hamilton	I’m miles off.
Lap: 23/62 HAM: 1’37.075
Santi	B-Mig-three, suggestion.
Hamilton	Uh, how’s this pace?
Santi	37.0 would be good.
Santi	Entry five, suggestion, diff entry five.
Lap: 24/62 HAM: 1’37.254
Santi	Antonelli box, push as much as possible, Antonelli in now.

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Ferrari told Hamilton to “hold position” when Leclerc came out of the pits ahead of him:

Lap: 25/62 HAM: 1’38.879
Santi	Hold position, mode race.
Lap: 26/62 HAM: 1’37.249
Hamilton	We’ve lost two seconds that last lap. Gap ahead.
Santi	Copy, we saw.

Hamilton told Ferrari more than once he was quicker than Leclerc. He suggested that they swap positions and indicated he was happy to let his team mate re-pass him if he wasn’t ale to pull away:

Lap: 27/62 HAM: 1’37.191
Hamilton	At this point, I’m quicker, we’ll just hold [unclear].
Hamilton	Copy.
Lap: 28/62 HAM: 1’36.922
Hamilton	I need to use this speed mate.
Santi	We need more management in 10, 18 for tyres and performance. Second gear in 13 for temperature.
Hamilton	Like, if I can’t pull away, then I’ll let him back past, but…
Santi	Copy.
Lap: 29/62 HAM: 1’37.165
Santi	And we need second gear in turn 13 for temperature.
Hamilton	Alright, I’ll back off.
Lap: 30/62 HAM: 1’37.276
Santi	And we can use first gear in 13 with this level of li-co.

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Now stuck close behind Leclerc, Hamilton told Ferrari he didn’t understand his strategy:

Lap: 32/62 HAM: 1’37.538
Hamilton	What’s the goal here, what’s the plan? I have no idea what the hell we’re doing. I see people on one stop.
Santi	Plan B, we are on Plan B.
Hamilton	I know we’re on Plan B, what are other people doing, mate?
Santi	Everyone else is one-stop.
Hamilton	And Charles?
Santi	Same as you at the moment.
Lap: 33/62 HAM: 1’37.530
Santi	B-mig three, suggestion, B-mig three.
Lap: 34/62 HAM: 1’37.271
Santi	Max and both McLarens just pitted, we think they are going to the end. We are currently P3, Antonelli we don’t know.
Lap: 35/62 HAM: 1’37.136
Santi	Tyre phase update when you can.
Lap: 36/62 HAM: 1’37.308
Santi	Charles is trying to pick up the pace. He is now on plan C. We are on B.
Santi	Entry speed five to improve.
Hamilton	How was everyone’s pace at the end of the run?
Santi	It’s high 36, high 36.
Lap: 37/62 HAM: 1’37.363
Hamilton	What’s high 36?
Santi	It’s the pace of the other car, they are doing 36.5, 7, 8 .
Hamilton	Yeah, they’ve got new tyres, I said ‘at the end of their stint, how fast were they going?’
Lap: 38/62 HAM: 1’37.221
Santi	The pace will be similar by the end of the race and at the moment we don’t think we have the life.

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