when hamilton was told to let rosberg pass, rosberg was not in a position to pass him. he didn't get in that position in any of the following laps until the pit stop.
so it is irrelevant that he could have passed alonso "easily", since it wasn't going to be anywhere near that position on fresh tires.
if he really wanted to win the race, he should have pushed on the second last set of tires, gotten close to lewis to put him in a realistic postulation of letting him go by (which he would have), and at the same time make up more room on alonso and ricciardo up front.
but he didn't and that was his decision (and that of his engineers).
even if at that time hamilton would have parked the car to let him go which it seems to be what he expected, he still would have had to make up the same amount of time on the duo in front.
he reached hamilton at the very end, so he would have reached alonso slightly after that (consider that alonso would also have driven faster without having to defend himself from hamilton), and it is entirely questionable whether he could have passed him.
and that he could have reached and passed ricciardo is an even longer stretch, if not completely impossible, since he was way ahead.
add to that that if hamilton had slowed down significantly to let rosberg go, it would have reached even later, and would have not passed him (much less ricciardo).
in conclusion, the idea that mercedes "gave up a 1-2 finish" to 'let them race' is ludicrous,
even a victory by rosberg was not going to happen at that point.
by slowing down to help rosberg, hamilton would have helped rosberg, but not the team.
if indeed Nico was "in position to throw together a few flying laps before his stop" and he didn't, than he only has himself to blame.
