diff --git a/pkg/querier/codec/protobuf_codec.go b/pkg/querier/codec/protobuf_codec.go
index 78b1d7c58a7..74aa848be87 100644
--- a/pkg/querier/codec/protobuf_codec.go
+++ b/pkg/querier/codec/protobuf_codec.go
@@ -113,9 +113,9 @@ func getMatrixSampleStreams(data *v1.QueryData) *[]tripperware.SampleStream {
 		}
 
 		histogramsLen := len(sampleStream.Histograms)
-		var histograms []tripperware.SampleHistogramPair
+		var histograms []*tripperware.SampleHistogramPair
 		if histogramsLen > 0 {
-			histograms = make([]tripperware.SampleHistogramPair, histogramsLen)
+			histograms = make([]*tripperware.SampleHistogramPair, histogramsLen)
 			for j := 0; j < histogramsLen; j++ {
 				bucketsLen := len(sampleStream.Histograms[j].H.NegativeBuckets) + len(sampleStream.Histograms[j].H.PositiveBuckets)
 				if sampleStream.Histograms[j].H.ZeroCount > 0 {
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ func getMatrixSampleStreams(data *v1.QueryData) *[]tripperware.SampleStream {
 				buckets := make([]*tripperware.HistogramBucket, bucketsLen)
 				it := sampleStream.Histograms[j].H.AllBucketIterator()
 				getBuckets(buckets, it)
-				histograms[j] = tripperware.SampleHistogramPair{
+				histograms[j] = &tripperware.SampleHistogramPair{
 					TimestampMs: sampleStream.Histograms[j].T,
 					Histogram: tripperware.SampleHistogram{
 						Count:   sampleStream.Histograms[j].H.Count,
diff --git a/pkg/querier/codec/protobuf_codec_test.go b/pkg/querier/codec/protobuf_codec_test.go
index 54fa561fd52..09294dc10a5 100644
--- a/pkg/querier/codec/protobuf_codec_test.go
+++ b/pkg/querier/codec/protobuf_codec_test.go
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ func TestProtobufCodec_Encode(t *testing.T) {
 										Labels: []cortexpb.LabelAdapter{
 											{Name: "__name__", Value: "foo"},
 										},
-										Histograms: []tripperware.SampleHistogramPair{
+										Histograms: []*tripperware.SampleHistogramPair{
 											{
 												TimestampMs: 1000,
 												Histogram: tripperware.SampleHistogram{