They’ve been abundantly clear since the test payload was announced that it was not actually going to Mars, but rather into a heliocentric orbit with an aphelion around Mars’s orbit.
Are you under the impression that mistakes never get made in rocket science? Because a naive reading of your comment would indicate strong agreement with me, i.e. rocket science is really hard and mistakes are made.
"Falcon Heavy sends a car to Mars"
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/960579820487954432?lang=...