Suggested

Tyre wear

I take it tyre wear is not effected. Was in a race where I was on my 2nd set of soft tyres and was already half way through them. The car in front of me was still on 1st set of sifts and doing faster times. Yes car improvements help but surely couldn’t being that much of a difference?

Probably but almost certainly, without any doubt, the car in front was low on fuel, so rightfully faster...tyre wear does not concern this case.