The Austrian GP reshaped the 2026 Momentum ranking: Isack Hadjar displaced Lewis Hamilton at the top, while Oscar Piastri produced the biggest jump of the week. Further down, George Russell forced his way into the top 10 as Franco Colapinto tumbled out.
By Nadia Okafor
The Momentum ranking has a new leader after the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring: Isack Hadjar moves to P1 on +6.53, replacing previous leader Lewis Hamilton, now second on +5.47. Hadjar’s 6th place in Spielberg from P8 brought 8 points, and in a ranking built on the swing between the last three rounds and everything before, that was enough to tip the balance at the top even with Hamilton still very close in the underlying rate.
The biggest reshuffle came just behind them. Oscar Piastri surged 14 places from 17th to 3rd, posting a +4.07 momentum figure after scoring 12 points with 4th place from P7 in Austria. That jump also means the top three has changed, with Piastri now sitting directly behind the two drivers setting the pace on recent points-per-race improvement.
There was a similar, if less spectacular, story of a late charge into the spotlight for George Russell. Russell climbed 13 spots from 22nd to 9th and into the top 10 on +0.93, a meaningful threshold in a metric designed to highlight acceleration rather than total output. The flipside of the same volatility is Franco Colapinto: after being 7th, he dropped 12 places to 19th on −2.67, and his Austrian weekend — 15th from 16th on the grid, lapped, and 0 points over 70 laps — coincided with his exit from the top 10 alongside Fernando Alonso.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 17 | 3 | +14 | +4.07 |
| George Russell | Mercedes | 22 | 9 | +13 | +0.93 |
| Franco Colapinto | Alpine F1 Team | 7 | 19 | -12 | −2.67 |
Hadjar’s +6.53 puts him at the front of the ‘who’s improving fastest’ conversation, but Hamilton remains within a little over a point on +5.47 — leaving the top fight finely poised. Piastri’s rise to 3rd on +4.07 turns the podium places in this ranking into a three-way contest, while Russell’s entry at 9th (+0.93) and Colapinto’s fall to 19th (−2.67) underline how quickly the recent-form window can reorder the midfield.