Alonso had repassed168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in the battle for꧃ second place after initially losing out off the line but was instructed to “lift and coast” by his team in the closing stages of the race. 

That enabled Hamilton to catch Alonso, though after seeing the gap reduce down to around 1.5 seconds, the Spaniard was able to pull clear and seal second place on the rostrum behind168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. 

Aston Martin team princi💫pal Mike Krack exp🙈lained that the the team’s data was indicating a possible problem on Alonso’s car which "did not materialise in the end”. 

"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 thing is to save some fuel and to do lift an🤡d cღoast.”

Krack added: “How much it costs us? It's difficult to jud🌸ge. A few tenths, one or two per lap, maybe. 

"It was a precautionary thing. But you can choose between not finishing or arriving with🌺 a bit m๊ore [fuel], so we wanted to be safe.”

Alonso admitted after the race that he was unsure wha🅘t the lift and coast order related ꩲto. 

“I don't really know,” he said. “They didn't tell me so maybe it was not to make me wor♕ry too much. But I don't know⛄. 

“I felt the car was OK. But I was just following the instructions. So yeah, hℱopefully that means that we have a little bit more pac🎀e. So next one, putting more pressure on Max.”

Krack confirmed Alonso’s sus🐻picion that he𒉰 could have gone quicker towards the end. 

Mercedes appeared to misunderstand the nature of Alonso’s issue, with Hamilton being told his rival h༒ad a brake problem. 

“I think Lewis was told we had a brake problem and we looked at each other and said ‘oh, they know more about our ca🗹r than we do, maybe we should speak to Mercedes’ engineers’,” Krack said.