In qualifying a few things happened that resulted in RBR being slower than usual.
Firstly, very little time was spent above 280 kph, which is where the low drag of the RBR has such a dramatic effect. So at the moment it is not clear whether the flexi aero changes did or did not affect RBR.
Secondly, the RBR rear tyres were down on temperature (no data to prove this just knowledge of how tyre temp affects performance) for most of the lap and only got to the point in the last 2 corners of not losing time to their main competitors.
In the race VER was faster than the vast majority of the field, but still slower than Lewis and RUS, who were on newer medium tyres. Most of the field were on much older tyres and so were and would in any case be slower. I need to equivalence VER’s stint to the end with RUS’s stint, taking out the fuel effect and balancing tyre age.
I think that Lewis was right that it would be faster as a two stop race, complicated by needing to maintain track position vs being able to overtake. SAI demonstrated very well that it could be a one stop, but he might not have been able to keep Lewis behind him, had he needed to do that.