Liam Lawson’s early retired result in Miami yanked him out of the top 10 for best average race finish, dropping him from sixth to 14th. Up front, Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s 1.25 average remains the season’s reference point after a fourth-round win from pole.
By Camille Fontaine
The biggest swing in the best average race finish ranking after the Miami Grand Prix belonged to Liam Lawson — and it was a brutal one. Starting 11th and classified 20th with a retired status after six laps, the RB F1 Team driver fell from sixth to 14th, his average finish deteriorating to 12.25. In a table that counts every official classification position, including retirements, one non-finish doesn’t just hurt; it can redefine a month’s worth of work in a four-race season.
At the sharp end, stability rather than upheaval remains the story. Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Miami victory (57 laps, 25 points) kept him anchored at rank one with a 1.25 average, and the top three didn’t change: George Russell sits second on 2.75, with Charles Leclerc third on 4.50. The Mercedes pairing continuing 1-2 on average finish after four races is a quietly significant marker of week-to-week execution — especially because this metric is built to punish any weekend that turns into a classified result outside the points, or worse.
Miami also reshuffled the midfield picture behind that settled top three. Oscar Piastri’s climb from 15th to eighth is the round’s clearest positive correction: a third-place finish from seventh on the grid, plus 15 points, pulled his season average down to 11.25 and carried him into the top 10. Franco Colapinto followed him in, rising from 14th to 10th for Alpine F1 Team on an 11.75 average. Those gains came with immediate consequences elsewhere: Lawson’s drop pushed him out of the top 10, and Arvid Lindblad also exited it, underlining how narrow the margins are once the averages cluster in the low teens.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liam Lawson | RB F1 Team | 6 | 14 | -8 | 12.25 |
| Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 15 | 8 | +7 | 11.25 |
| Franco Colapinto | Alpine F1 Team | 14 | 10 | +4 | 11.75 |
With four races completed, Antonelli’s 1.25 average finish and the unchanged top three suggest the reliability/consistency battle is currently defined by avoiding the one weekend that blows up the mean. Miami proved that point: Lawson’s retired result was enough to dump him out of the top 10, while strong classified finishes vaulted Piastri and Colapinto into it — setting up a volatile fight where a single outlier result can swing multiple positions.