Fred Vasseur pulls back the curtain on Lewis Hamilton's viral cryptic team radio after the Monaco GP

Lewis Hamilton had asked his race engineer, Riccardo Adami, whether he was upset with him in the post-race team radio, which led to a flurry of conspiracies on social media. However, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur came to the rescue as he revealed why they didn't respond to the Briton's question at the Monaco GP.

After a long-drawn 78 laps of racing around the Principality, Hamilton finished P5. The seven-time champion was in an entirely different race from his teammate, Charles Leclerc, who finished runner-up in his home race.

After finishing far behind the next car on the road, the Briton and his race engineer engaged in a small chat. Adami explained that Hamilton finished P5 and urged him to collect some pickup on his tires. Soon after, the 40-year-old shared his take on the race.

Hamilton seemingly felt that the Italian engineer was unhappy and asked an odd question over the radio, which remained unanswered. This led to speculations all over the paddock, leading Fred Vasseur to intervene and explain that the #44 car's location had been the reason for no answer over the radio.

He said, via PlanetF1:

"When the driver is asking something between Turn 1 and 3, we have to wait [until] the tunnel to reply, to avoid to speak with him during the corners. 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, he’s at 300kph between the walls and I am perfectly fine with it. I spoke with him after the race, he was not upset at all."

While teams refrain from contacting their drivers in corners, the situation usually changes after the checkered flag has fallen on track.

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Lewis Hamilton says he could not have done anything better in the Monaco Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton at the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton had qualified P7 for the race on Sunday. He aimed to get back to the top end of the field and got past two cars in the pit stop sequence.

This helped him get to fifth position, where he ultimately finished the race. Opening up on how this result was the maximum he could bag, the Ferrari driver said, via Formula 1:

"I think from where I was, a three-place grid penalty moving forwards back to fifth, I think was decent – the best I could do."

Lewis Hamilton sits sixth in the championship standings and is 98 points behind the championship leader, Oscar Piastri.