Yes. If the implementation language isn't the determining factor for speed, then what is the cause? There is a branch of Computer Science called Algorithmics[0], wherein one expression of measurement is called Big-O notation[1].
You seem fundamentally confused, for example with tools like Cython.
Many extension module implementations in Python are literally as fast as pure C (not just nearly as fast with minor extra CPython overhead, but literally as fast as pure C by deliberately bypassing CPython VM loop and data models).
Because you're writing regular Python for a production service though, and not artificially writing optimized examples, then you will occasionally have to pay extra costs.
Are you perhaps a bit too invested in your own narrative?
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmics
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_O_notation