Driver quali/race differences

My two drivers qualified 1st and 12th(on same tyre)quite far apart too, not just a tenth or two like it usually is at the end of the season. The driver who qualified in 12th won the race and the driver who qualified 1st finished 3rd. I'm very unsure about how my driver who qualified p12 won when my driver who qualified 1st was that much faster, even in practice

LMFAO!!!!..... sorry.... your question is the equivalent of asking what's the meaning of life?... JK!!

On a serious note, Once a race start all bets are off... practice and qualy times at this point become irrelevant. What is relevant is how your drivers reacts to the track's environment and their opponents. Since non of these factors are present during practice and qualy, how a driver performs once the race starts becomes more dependent on their ability to cope with the circumstances around them. 

I've also read in some of the "help & support" forums that swapping the driver's side(or cars) also spikes the lesser driver to start performing...