After round 7 at Barcelona, Liam Lawson still tops the Best average positions gained table on +5.33 per counted race. But Pierre Gasly’s 14th-to-7th recovery nudged him ahead of Oscar Piastri in a tight fight behind.
By Nadia Okafor
Liam Lawson remains the benchmark in Best average positions gained after the Barcelona Grand Prix, holding P1 on +5.33. The headline, though, is the shuffle directly underneath him: Pierre Gasly moved up to third overall, a one-place gain in the ranking that came at Oscar Piastri’s expense.
The contrast from Sunday underlines why this metric can produce uncomfortable narratives. Lawson started 8th and finished 8th (65 laps, lapped), a net gain of 0 positions at this race, yet his season average still stands well clear of the rest. Gasly, meanwhile, started 14th and finished 7th (65 laps, lapped), a seven-place swing that has materially altered the shape of the top three even in a week where the leader did not move.
Gasly’s rise is the cleanest example of what this ranking rewards: converting a poor grid spot into a better classification often enough to shift the average. Barcelona delivered exactly that, with Gasly turning 14th on the grid into 7th at the flag for 6 points. That kind of movement pushed him from 4th to 3rd in the standings on +2.33.
It was only a one-place change in the table, but it matters because it happened in a compressed part of the ranking. Gasly’s +2.33 now sits just ahead of Piastri’s +2.25, a gap small enough that a single race’s grid-versus-finish swing can flip the order again. With the methodology based on official grid position rather than qualifying position, the numbers are designed to reflect what actually happened on Sunday, not what could have happened in a clean qualifying-to-race comparison.
Piastri didn’t have a bad Barcelona in conventional terms: he started 7th and finished 5th, completing 66 laps and scoring 10 points. In this ranking, that’s a gain of two positions for the weekend — useful, but not enough to protect third once Gasly produced a seven-place surge.
That is the tension at the heart of Best average positions gained. Strong weekends from relatively high grid positions can be ‘quiet’ here, because there is less available upside. Piastri’s drop from 3rd to 4th is not a verdict on overall performance so much as a reminder that this particular lens is about movement through the field, and the margins are now tight enough that a modest gain can still cost ranking places.
If you’re looking purely at the numbers after 7 races completed, Max Verstappen is the clearest reference point: he sits second on +3.60. That leaves Lawson with a sizeable cushion at the top, especially given that Barcelona didn’t add to Lawson’s own tally yet still didn’t dent his position.
The more immediate storyline, however, is the developing battle behind them. With the top three now Lawson (+5.33), Verstappen (+3.60) and Gasly (+2.33), the fight for the final podium slot in this metric looks more volatile than the fight for first. Gasly has the momentum of a move into the top three, Piastri has been pushed to fourth on +2.25, and Barcelona showed how quickly one strong recovery can redraw the order.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pierre Gasly | Alpine F1 Team | 4 | 3 | +1 | +2.33 |
| Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 3 | 4 | -1 | +2.25 |
Lawson’s +5.33 lead looks consolidated even after a zero-gain Sunday, but the battle behind is tightening: Gasly has edged ahead of Piastri by just +0.08 on average, making the next meaningful grid-to-flag swing likely to decide who holds third in this metric.