When a driver says they were "off-throttle", they mean off the pedal. Since F1 cars use electronic throttle bodies (drive-by-wire), the engineers are able to map the throttle position to pedal position however they wish.
Secondly, I do know they are not arriving in neutral. It's simply not possible for an F1 gearbox to select neutral without going through the gears in between, and it's not possible for them to "re-select" the desired gear without going through the gears inbetween. In terms of the electronics, the only thing they can do is pre-select a downchange with the rules limiting this downchange to two gears (i.e. one press of the paddle does two downchanges).
Finally, nobody is talking about engine braking so I don't know why you felt the need to mention it. However, the engine map can be used to alter engine braking and its subsequent effects on the balance of the car. In fact, it took some teams a long time to overcome the effect KERS had on engine braking and therefore the balance of the car.
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