After three races, Lewis Hamilton still leads the 2026 average positions gained ranking at +1.00, consolidating rather than extending at Suzuka. Behind him, Charles Leclerc’s +0.67 keeps the intra-Ferrari battle live as the top three reshuffles.
By Diego Torres
Lewis Hamilton leaves the Japanese Grand Prix still leading the 2026 ‘Best average positions gained’ ranking, a small but telling marker of how his season has started: steady net progress, but without the kind of swing that would make the table look settled. His average remains +1.00 after Suzuka, with the ranking explicitly tied to official grid position versus final classification in classified races — meaning there’s no hiding from what you started with and where you ended up.
Suzuka underlined that point in the most literal way for Hamilton. He started 6th and finished 6th, with 53 laps completed and eight points, a zero-movement Sunday that effectively protected his early advantage rather than growing it. That opens the door to pressure from within Ferrari: Charles Leclerc sits second on +0.67, close enough that one properly forward-moving race can swing the balance in a metric where every place counts.
The other notable development is the shape of the chase pack. Andrea Kimi Antonelli is now third on 0.00, while George Russell sits fourth on −0.67, and with only three races completed those small averages are still highly sensitive to any single round. The top three changed without a change at the very top, a reminder that the early-season story here isn’t a runaway leader — it’s the settling of a pecking order where ‘doing no harm’ can be almost as important as a big recovery drive.
With Hamilton still on +1.00 after three races, the headline is consolidation — but Leclerc’s +0.67 keeps the lead within reach, and the tight spread behind them means a single race of clear grid-to-flag progress can quickly reshuffle the top three again.