So I thought I'd do a test in a practice session after getting a 100% setup on my car.

After achieving a 100% confidence in my setup, I thought I'd just set the car to extremes to get "Bad" confidence in each part.

You could arguably call this a 100% vs. 0% test - I didn't do the 20 or so laps needed to confirm it's a 0%. But you can clearly see how far off the "optimal" these settings are, so expect this to be as close to 0% as you could realistically get.

https://preview.redd.it/3fzbk0g4wfl91.png?width=1316&format=png&auto=webp&s=84c6e82c7510cfb27da5a841235345879c9955c1

This is using Hard tyres on a pretty clean track each time, near the end of the session with good rubber levels and only 3 laps of fuel. Test was done on Miami track.

Lap 28, highlighted in green is a Optimal setup. Lap 31, in purple is the Bad Setup

Lap 1 - 100% Optimal Setup
Time: 1:30.388
Sector 1: 33.490
Sector 2: 20.918
Sector 3: 35.980

Lap 2 - Bad Setup
Time: 1:30.363
Sector 1: 33.457
Sector 2: 20.945
Sector 3: 35.961

The bad setup is faster in two of the three sectors, and actually produced the faster lap time overall.

I know setups give drivers "bonus points" on race day, but is this expected? Surely you'd expect setups to make some difference to the actual car itself no?