Tyre wear barley affects AI

Spa qualifying. Pole with both default (0.23) my (0.7) set-ups. But what I don't get is the gap to my teammate changed from 3 seconds in default to only 2.5 to my set-up even though I got half a second quicker he went a second quicker. Surely he should get slower?

But any way with both times I'm thinking as long as I point it in the right direction I should win this on level 75 especially my set-up time.

Spa tyre temps were the same on both, easy to control, a little high but nothing major.

Spa soft tyre wear at pit stop, again no real difference, So I've gained half a second without affecting my wear. And lasted to the predicted number of laps.

Spa medium tyre temps. Both easy to control. My set-up was slightly cooler. But as you can already see, I won neither try???

Again, the wear at the end was about the same with both set-ups.

So max's wins them both. Did I make any major mistakes to lose all the advantage I had in qualifying disappear?

Some might think they're overpowered. But I don't as I destroyed them in qualifying.

No is the answer to, did I make any major mistakes in the race? I was consistent as ever in my tests.

Here's max's times from my set-up run. Remember, he was 0.8 behind in qualifying.

So I asked this question around patch 1.06, and I'll ask it again now before I go to Singapore. Somebody, please make it make sense. Because at the minute I'm regretting buying the game and for the last 3 years games I've done 10 full seasons in my team. But I can't start one till it makes sense.

Edit should've said Charles' times, Didn't use Max's as he went medium soft.

What if it's not tyre wear, but that is the most logical thing to think.

What if It's something more sinister? Like adaptive AI kicking in after qualifying, even though I'm on expert and should have no effect at all. So for the race I'm racing on a level it thinks I should be playing at, but would also put me on a level where I'd be playing where any little mistake would have me losing out. Just the loss of 0.7 seconds from qualifying to the race at Spa really has me at a loss to how and why it happened.

Edit discount the silly sinister theory, as it's not adaptive AI, just qualified 20th 10 seconds off 19th and only got to 9th. But something isn't right.

To add a little more context to my findings, I'm going to do a few more posts on this subject, then leave it alone.

My first run through on GP level 70 15 lower than last year, is to find out my AI level the way CM/EA want me to do, short qualifying, default set-up and compare to your teammate. Easy to work out from 70. If you're 1.7 ahead of him, it should be AI 87 if it's 2.9 then AI level 99. So after the first season I have 22 times ranging from AI 65 (Monaco) to 99 (Belgium). So I work out my average by taken the top and bottom level out to average the remaining 20 levels. It came out at level 82 only 3 down on last year. But I had struggled in all the GP races on level 70, only Monaco was below that level. So my level on My team, Driver Career and the weekly event are all around the same as last year's game, maybe a little higher if I'm honest. But I'll start on 82, and it won't change till I win both championships after starting from newcomer position, and that's why getting a Good AI is so important. So some tracks, I’ll be good at, some I won't. Should take me a good 3 seasons to do it, which feels like a natural progression.  I do like to get the trophy for winning the championships in GP mode, But season 4 In the McLaren this season on 68, and I'm still struggling to win races. Even though I'm on levels above 83 on the tracks so far, I should be strolling to victories. So instead of putting myself through any more misery on GP mode, I’m going to knock it down to level 50 to mitigate the tyre wear difference in 5 lap races in a Ferrari just to get the trophy, I feel I should have won already.

But this morning I decided to start 2 Driver career's in a Haas on level 75, 1 starting in Hungary, 1 starting in Belgium. Made sure both qualifying and race were dry.

I'll compare them to the races I did using my set-ups in GP mode. At Hungary, my level came out at 75, Belgium 99. Here's the performance of the Haas for the Hungary Driver Career, Still A mid-table team and on 75 Anywhere between 11-14th would be a respectable qualifying.