Alonso was holding off Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton for second in the closing stages when he was told by the team to start lifting and coasting, without being given any explanation.
After the race, team principal Mike Krack revealed that Aston’s request was triggered by an apparent issue with the fuel system, which turned out to be a false flag.
“We thought we had a problem with the fuel system,” Krack said.
“But we were not sure, so as a precaution, we said the best is to save some fuel and to do lift and coast.”
When pressed repeatedly by Motorsport.com, Krack refused to disclose any further details on what the erroneous indication was, simply stating: “We thought we had a problem which did not materialise in the end.”
By needlessly lifting …