Actually, on average a lap of fuel costs a bit over a tenth in qualifying, which is ofen critical for grid position. And with how hard overtaking is is important to get as high up the grid as you can.
But at the start of the race when you're fuel up to 160kg, each extra lap on full power costs a lot more laptime. Turning the engine down might cost 0.1-0.2 per lap, but then don't forget that the engine have to last 4 races these days, so you can't just go around running full power all the time. So if you know you can't run full power all race every race, and you know when you turn it down you save fuel, you see how it works hand in hand.
The other note about the turkey rae in particular was that unlike usual, these 4 guys were just about nose to tail (for the first 40 laps) so the didn't have time to relax and save the engine/fuel like they normally would when the leads is comfortable and the field is spread out, which is why they ran harder longer and then turning the engine down at the end became priority for both RB and McLaren.
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