The seven-time champion was running in third place after refusing to pit when Mercedes called him in for a fresh set of inters.

With Hamilton running on his intermediates for over 40 laps, the grooves on his tyres had disappeared, making it an effective slick tyre.

Due to concerns about the tyres not making the end of the race, Mercedes called Hamilton in, surrendering track position to Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc.

Esteban Ocon was the only driver to complete the full race on the same tyres and Pirelli’s Pirelli’s Head of F1 Mario Isola believes it would have been risky for Mercedes to have done the same with Hamilton.

“Looking at the tyres after the race, I would say no or at least it was really at the limit,” Isola told Sky Sports. “The wear of the tyres, especially at the end of the race, they were running basically on the construction. It is a bit dangerous to push the boundaries like today. I fully understand that in a race condition they have to maximise the result.

“I believe that every car is different so the level of wear is different and depending also during the race how much they push but more or less the tyres were with exposed cords.”

Isola revealed that Pirelli warned some teams against doing the whole race on one set of tyres.

“We know that with the new tarmac that is more abrasive, more grip compared to last year,” Isola added. “The track wasn’t dry but still abrasive. It was really, really at the limit. I was suggesting our allocated engineers to worn the teams to change the tyres, not to got to the end because it was a risky move.”