Pretty much any chassis can be made to run at the front. Teams will generally stick to a single chassis because it allows them to build a body of data. Moreover, across teams and drivers, you will find a gravitation toward a particular chassis because it removes another variable. There's little to be gained by running a different chassis, but by running the same as everyone else you can copy setups, have access to spares, etc etc and you know it's not a reason for lack of pace.
Regarding setup, within reasonable limits, a good driver will get the kart near the front regardless of setup. In that sense, setup isn't critical. Of course, when you get to the sharp end, a tenth or two is the difference between 1st and 20th, so in that sense it is even more critical.
Further, a good base setup on most karts will be good at most circuits. You might find that one setup variable changes for a given circuit (excluding gearing and pressures). If you find you're constantly making big setup changes, you're doing something wrong. A chassis/setup looks bad when driven badly and an engine looks bad when driven badly, so don't start chasing your tail with setup when really it's the driver that needs work.
My advice for new/young drivers would be to keep everything as consistent as possible. Make as few changes as possible. The driver is not yet on top of the kart so they need the confidence of knowing how the kart is going to feel/react. For some, this can even extend to using the same boots/gloves all the time. A change can really throw them off.
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