What's not being reported in the American medi is everything revolved around how fast the Pirelli tires were deteriorating. The two Red Bull cars were in 1st and 2nd, and the two Mercedes cars were in 3rd and 4th, and both of the team principles wanted the drivers and cars to finish where they were at, and not race each other and blow a tire, and end up with a DNF.
What happened in F1 yesterday was no different than a fuel mileage race in NASCAR where say Jeff Gordon was leading the race, and Junior was in second, and both drivers are told if you don't race each other you'll finish the race 1 and 2, but if you race each other you'll both run out of gas. Happens all the time NASCAR.