As far as I understand all scripting languages and core scientific programs are usually written in C; this renders the implementation messy yet in a way straight to the point.
I understand these people would like to max their performance but is there a real difference between using C strings and C structures to using C++ classes; C++ seems to work the same way, apart from virtual functions, it stores a class function once and every instance of that class calls that one function.
What makes C faster and is it a notable difference in a project such as python or sqlite who have to be the fastest?
C++ is often used for scientific programs. The popularity of C may be waning in that domain. Fortran remains popular as a "low-level" language.
In C++, "you only pay for what you use." So there is nothing that would make it any slower than C. In particular for scientific programs, expression templates make it possible to perform some custom optimization using the template engine to process program semantics.
The reason C is preferred for projects such as Python is that it tends to be less confusing to read, so a large codebase will be more accessible to a larger pool of contributors.
SQLite has a requirement for small executable code size, where C does have a slight edge. Judicious use of C++ still allows use in embedded applications, but it is less popular due to fear that unwanted language features will creep in.