Blunion
There are two penalties, which are soft caps, to reduce unfair advantages for experienced managers in the Rookie and Pro tiers.
For the Pro tier, a ballast is applied to anybody who is level 13 to 20. The ballast's weight depends on the level of the manager.
The second penalty is with the level of facilities, being capped to level 12. Their design points per race will be 12, as will their parts production. Their technologies will also be capped to level 12.
The other notable thing: your driver is level 8, and that manager's driver is level 16. I don't recall a penalty being placed upon the driver. If there's no penalty upon the driver, or if it's not accounted for in the ballast, than this may be an issue.
As a manager, I'll add in that even if the driver is penalized down to level 12 (in regards to the Pro tier's soft cap for all things), a level 8 driver could still be unable to keep up due to the somewhat significant difference in levels.
I do want to say, that for developers in motorsport manager games, I think they overpower the driver. Honestly, the driver just doesn't make as big of a difference as we all like to think. The gap between, say a Merc and a Manor might be 2.5 seconds / lap, while the gap between a world champ and a rookie (in the same car), might be 0.3 seconds / lap.
There'll be small differences in tire wear, fuel usage, etc.