I spent some seasons in a league with many higher level players. At the beginning of the last one I found myself shooting three or four tenths slower in qualifying than the previous season, also among newly promoted by the pro, all with the same strategy and mixing with the old GPs, development of the similar car and with a pilot who has become more trained and experienced. The other top teams, on the other hand, have split the penny on time. In Melbourne, for example, I turned in 1 25 753 against the old 1 25 430. Yet for the others the differences were minimal: 378 to 394, 721 to 738 and so on.
In Malaysia I only turned a little slower than the previous season, with 1 33 439 compared to the old 1 33 380.
In China, again, 1 33 273 against 1 32 846, while for the others the differences were minimal and generally improving. This drop made me lose 7-9 positions on the grid, even though the results were similar in the race (-5 points between the two seasons) but I was there.
Despite having always recovered in the race I also started to lose reputation points and, at that point, to preserve my over 9000 level 16 from a few races achieved, I accelerated my imminent and announced exit from the championship, which is now held at a time that is prohibitive for the summer. But I wonder what will happen from now on when I start playing actively again and if this performance drop remains: it depends on my team? Has the pilot been slower for some reason? Is it even a bug? Or did it originate from balance dynamics among the players, resulting from the mechanisms of the game, and therefore inside the league?
Last season I took the final second place and immediately after the defending champion left, while another high level xp player entered, this is the only significant difference.
I add that I have another account at this level, almost twin due to staff characteristics, drivers, level of competitors in the championship, results, but the times remained, depending on the races, aligned between the seasons or slightly improving, despite having a older driver.