MD8: I think you will find this article both interesting and helpful.
I actually called Vp to talk about it and, can say i "think" i understand better than i did.
Yes, burn rates and vaporization matter and often the ingredients used to raise octane also reduce burn rates /hurt vaporization and thus, cures knocking etc but also makes less power in some applications.
By the same token, they can blend fuels to take high compressions but burn very fast for engines with really high rpm , which is needed because there is so little time at 10k (and up) to burn fuel.

Vp amazed me in explaining what all they can do with fuel blending.
Part of the article your likely most interested in is a few paragraphs down.

Hope this helps a little .
Tuning is a blast!

Rusty

https://dsportmag.com/the-tech/fuel-101-race-gas-octane-and-alternative-fuels-explained/