Round 15 in Azerbaijan didn’t change the top three for 2026’s Best average race finish metric, but it did reshuffle the next layer as a retirement weighed heavily on the numbers. Leclerc climbed to fourth, while rookie Arvid Lindblad edged into the top 10 and Pierre Gasly dropped out.
By Julian Reyes
Andrea Kimi Antonelli remains the benchmark for 2026’s Best average race finish ranking after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, holding P1 with an average finishing position of 3.60. The headline, though, isn’t a change at the top — it’s the tightening picture immediately behind the established front-runners as Baku’s classification order, including retirements, reshaped the margins.
Antonelli’s own weekend underlined why this metric rewards season-long resilience more than headline results. Despite starting 16th in qualifying at Baku City Circuit, he was classified fifth at the finish and added 10 points over 51 laps. That kind of recovery keeps his mean finish low enough to stay comfortably ahead even as the season moves beyond the 15-race mark, where a single bad classification can quickly leave a scar on an average.
While the lead hasn’t changed hands, the shape of the top three is worth noting: Lewis Hamilton holds second for Ferrari at 5.27, with George Russell third for Mercedes at 5.80. The gaps are small enough that the ranking’s sensitivity is obvious — one poor classification can distort an average over 15 race entries, especially when retirements are included at their official classification position rather than being discarded.
Baku offered a reminder of that volatility in a single number: there were 7 retirements in the race. In a metric built on “what you were classified as”, those results don’t just cost points — they drag down an entire seasonal average. That’s why the top three staying unchanged can still mask meaningful movement elsewhere: survival and damage limitation remain the currency of this table.
The biggest winner in ranking terms was Charles Leclerc, moving up one place from fifth to fourth with a 6.93 average for Ferrari. His Baku result was a clean, high-value classification: fourth place from second in qualifying, 12 points scored, and 51 laps completed. In a category that counts every start, that kind of “bankable” finish is exactly how a driver chips away at rivals without needing dramatic swings elsewhere.
Isack Hadjar also gained one position, rising from eighth to seventh on an 8.50 average for Red Bull. And Arvid Lindblad’s step from 11th to 10th is significant because it changes the complexion of the top 10 itself: the RB F1 Team driver now sits 10th on 10.47, a small movement numerically but a meaningful line to cross in a ranking that’s explicitly about week-to-week deliverability.
The most direct casualty of Baku’s classification order was Lando Norris, who slipped from fourth to fifth. Norris was classified 19th with a status of Retired after 35 laps, having qualified fifth, and that one entry is enough to push his season average to 7.87. In this methodology, there is no hiding place: a retirement is not an asterisk, it is a number that sits permanently inside the mean.
That shift had a knock-on effect on the McLaren picture too, with Oscar Piastri dropping from seventh to eighth on a 9.20 average. And the top-10 cut line moved: Pierre Gasly fell from 10th to 11th for Alpine F1 Team on 10.60, while Lindblad’s 10.47 was good enough to take his place. With only one-position movements across the table, the message is clear — the ranking is being decided by thin margins and the occasional heavy hit.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 5 | 4 | +1 | 6.93 |
| Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | 8 | 7 | +1 | 8.50 |
| Arvid Lindblad | RB F1 Team | 11 | 10 | +1 | 10.47 |
Antonelli’s 3.60 average keeps him in control of the Best average race finish picture, but Baku showed how quickly the order behind can flip: Leclerc’s move to fourth and Norris’s drop to fifth underline how a single retirement-classification can reshape the battle over 15 races — and the top-10 line is now a Lindblad-versus-Gasly margin of 10.47 to 10.60.