Solved

Lap Times

I am so confused by this game, I currently have one of the strongest cars in my league, I am ahead on accelration braking, handling , downforce but slightly behind on tyres and fuel

my drivers stats are better than another drivers and my car is superior, in practice I am consistently ahead 0.2/0.3 seconds but when it comes to the race on the same tyres and with me having less fuel on board their driver is consistently 2.0 seconds quicker, how cna this happen?

Apart from whether you have a fresh engine which does give you a few tenths a lap, strategy and tactics also play a big factor on pace. For strategy, how long are your stints and thus how heavy are your cars on fuel? Do you have the right tyres for your stint length and track conditions, or do you let your tyres wear out too much or have too slow a tyre for a short stint? Do you undercut or overcut?

For tactics, how are your push levels and tyre temps? Do you push too hard all the way up to the red, overheat your tyres, and thus lose a few seconds a lap? Do you push not hard enough and are thus unable to maximize your potential pace? Are you stuck behind a slower car for most of your stint? Do you have DRS for most of the race or are you running alone for most of it?

You could check out the winning strategies from managers in other leagues as well if you want some ideas on getting good strategies for your cars.

We were both running the same strategy, with 5 laps in on Soft tyres, he had 21l of fuel and i had 16 so in theory should be quicker on that front, my push level was normal and tyres were optimal temp. i was stuck behind any cars and had DRS most laps

for experience i can tell you that all is important but not essential....
i started a new league and i had the wrost car in the league....staff and pilots of a similar level but they had 40 points for EACH car ability and my car was at ZERO...so i thounght that it was impossible for me to win a race...instead i won the 3 first races and now in 9 races...i won 7!!!
I don't tell you how because it's too easy....the game is to study and find the victory.
I can tell you one thing...if you want to win, you have to be online on the race....it's 50% of possibility to win....if you find the way...it's 100% lol
Good Luck ;)

If you're losing 2-3 seconds a lap to a car on relatively equal pace and same strategy, I can only think that you may have done something with your push levels.

Are your temps in the blue, black, or red? If it's way up in the red, then you're overheating your tyres and thus causing you to lose 2-3 seconds a lap.

I don't think normal push, soft tyres and at optimal temp go together on most tracks, so that could very well be the reason.