The Dutch Grand Prix has flipped the top of the 2026 Most overtakes table: Gabriel Bortoleto rises from fifth to first on 67, edging George Russell by one. Max Verstappen, the previous leader, drops to third as the top 10 also sees fresh movement.
By Elena Marsh
Gabriel Bortoleto is the new leader of the 2026 Most overtakes ranking after round 12 at Circuit Park Zandvoort, surging from fifth to first with a season total of 67. That four-place jump is the biggest move anyone makes in this update, and it matters because it doesn’t just reshuffle mid-table positions — it changes the identity of the driver setting the benchmark in a metric that tracks genuine, lap-to-lap passes rather than pit-lane churn.
The margin at the front is razor-thin. George Russell sits second on 66, only one behind, which means the lead is less a cushion than a live argument about who is most consistently progressing through traffic. And it’s notable that Bortoleto’s new position at the summit comes despite a Dutch GP result listed as 13th, Lapped, starting from grid 9 — a reminder that this ranking can tell a different story from the points table, rewarding a season-long pattern of forward motion rather than a single Sunday’s finish.
Max Verstappen arrives at Zandvoort as the previous leader, but leaves it third in the ranking on 63, a drop of two places from first. That tells you just how compressed the front cluster is: a swing of four overtakes separates first from third, and a single overtake separates first and second.
Verstappen isn’t the only one shuffled by that compression. With the top three changing, the new order is Bortoleto (67), Russell (66), and Verstappen (63). The consequence is that the ranking’s narrative shifts from one driver trying to defend a narrow advantage to multiple drivers effectively trading micro-advantages week to week — the kind of environment where a single strong round can reset the table.
Bortoleto’s leap is the headline, but the Dutch GP update has meaningful movement further down too. Carlos Sainz climbs three places from 13th to 10th, reaching 49 overtakes for Williams and breaking into the top 10 at the same moment Oliver Bearman drops out. That’s the sharp end of a different battle: the fight to be visible on the first page of the ranking rather than buried in the pack.
Arvid Lindblad also gains three positions, moving from 17th to 14th on 45 for RB F1 Team. Those kinds of steps rarely get attention when the lead changes, but they matter in a metric built on accumulation: climbing into striking range now is what turns the back half of the season into an opportunity rather than a write-off.
The Dutch GP’s ranking shifts underline how quickly a season-long passing table can pivot when the gaps are tight. Pierre Gasly is a case study: he drops three places from fourth to seventh despite still holding 58 overtakes for Alpine F1 Team. In other words, the number is strong — the relative position is what’s volatile when multiple drivers are clustered within a few successful moves.
There’s also a useful contrast between ‘movement’ as fans usually think of it and movement as this ranking defines it. The race itself had Fernando Alonso recorded as the biggest mover with a gain of nine positions, but the Most overtakes ranking is stricter: it credits lap-to-lap, on-track position changes and only counts pit-related swaps if they become lasting strategic gains to the finish. That methodology is exactly why the season table can elevate drivers who repeatedly make passes stick, even if their race result lines don’t always flatter them.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 5 | 1 | +4 | 67 |
| Carlos Sainz | Williams | 13 | 10 | +3 | 49 |
| Arvid Lindblad | RB F1 Team | 17 | 14 | +3 | 45 |
Bortoleto’s move to 67 resets the Most overtakes picture at the top, but with Russell only one behind on 66 and Verstappen still close on 63, the lead is fragile. The Dutch GP also draws a clear line between the top-10 fight and the chasing pack: Sainz’s entry at 49 and Bearman’s exit show that the cutoff is moving, while Gasly’s fall to seventh on 58 proves even high totals aren’t safe when the gaps are this small.