Isack Hadjar has gained the most positions in F1 2026: +34. Behind the leader come Liam Lawson (RB F1 Team, +33), Max Verstappen (Red Bull, +31), Arvid Lindblad (RB F1 Team, +26) and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes, +25). First to fifth is separated by 9. Total positions gained from grid slot to chequered flag across the season.
The Singapore Grand Prix rewrote the top of the table: Isack Hadjar climbed 4 places into first. Nobody has pushed harder over the last three rounds than Arvid Lindblad (RB F1 Team): +8, +12 across Azerbaijan Grand Prix and Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia — comfortably clear of the level set over the rest of the season. Going the other way, Oscar Piastri (McLaren) has given up the most ground: -10, 0, +1 across Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and Singapore Grand Prix, below the standard set earlier in the year.
So why is this ranking worth your time? Because it is exactly the kind of question every fan argues about and almost nobody actually counts. This one is counted: 23 drivers and 17 races of the F1 2026 season, built race by race from the official classifications. No votes, no opinions, no cherry-picked highlights — if a driver moves here, something real happened on track. And it recomputes itself after every Grand Prix, so the next time the argument comes up, the answer is already up to date.
Updated after the Singapore Grand Prix
Through 17 rounds of 2026, Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) leads this table at +34, built from 10 counted races.
Behind him, Liam Lawson holds second on +33, while Max Verstappen rounds out the top three at +31.
Every figure here comes straight from the official results — no votes, no narratives, just the classification sheets. The big mover this round is George Russell, up 7 places to P16. Lewis Hamilton heads the other way, down 3 places to P17.
After the Singapore Grand Prix (round 17), Isack Hadjar still sets the pace in “Most positions gained” with +34 across 10 counted races. Liam Lawson remains right on his heels in 2nd on +33, while Max Verstappen holds 3rd with +31, keeping the top three tightly packed. The biggest mover in this update is George Russell, who climbs 7 places to 16th with +3, and Hadjar also nudges upward by 4 to stay 1st. Oliver Bearman edges up 1 spot to 14th on +5, while Lewis Hamilton drops 3 places to 17th with +2 and both Lawson and Verstappen slip 1 place to 2nd and 3rd respectively. The defining feature of this round is how little daylight there is at the very top: even with small rank changes behind him, Hadjar’s lead is only a single position gained over Lawson, meaning one strong swing could reshuffle the front of this table quickly.
For every race where a driver was classified (finished or completed enough laps to be counted) and started from a proper grid slot, we take the difference between grid position and final classification. Pit-lane starts (grid 0) are excluded because there is no grid slot to measure from. The ranking sums those per-race gains across the season. Ties are broken by total season points, then alphabetically.
For every race where a driver was classified (finished or completed enough laps to be counted) and started from a proper grid slot, we take the difference between grid position and final classification. Pit-lane starts (grid 0) are excluded because there is no grid slot to measure from. The ranking sums those per-race gains across the season. Ties are broken by total season points, then alphabetically.
After every Grand Prix. The standings above reflect results through the Singapore Grand Prix.
A higher value is better — the driver at the top of the table is the strongest by this measure.
Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), with +34.