After 17 rounds, Arvid Lindblad still tops F1 2026’s Best average positions gained metric on +3.71 per counted race. But Isack Hadjar’s 22nd-to-10th recovery at Singapore vaulted him four places in the ranking and into third.
By Camille Fontaine
Arvid Lindblad remains the reference point in 2026’s Best average positions gained ranking after Singapore, holding P1 on a +3.71 average for RB F1 Team. That’s the headline in the standings even though his Marina Bay weekend itself ran against the grain: from an official grid slot of 9th to a final classification of 15th (lapped) over 61 laps, a net loss of six places in the very metric he leads.
The fact the lead didn’t change matters because this ranking is explicitly tied to the official starting grid rather than qualifying position, and it averages only races that count. That makes it a steadier barometer of season-long recovery work than a single standout Sunday—and it means Lindblad’s advantage has survived a race where he moved backwards, not forwards.
Behind him, though, the picture is tightening: Sergio Pérez sits second for Cadillac F1 Team on +3.60, just 0.11 away. Lindblad’s cushion at the top is now small enough that the story at round 17 is less about a runaway and more about whether the lead can be defended as the trailing group keeps producing big swings.
Isack Hadjar provided the clearest example of what this ranking is designed to capture: starting 22nd and finishing 10th, he gained 12 places—Singapore’s biggest grid-to-flag mover. That single race didn’t just yield points (1); it also flipped his season narrative in this specific metric, driving a four-place rise in the ranking from 7th to 3rd.
Hadjar now sits on a +3.40 average for Red Bull, and that number carries weight because it’s an average across counted races rather than a one-off. In a category where small gaps are decisive, pushing into the top three changes the pressure on the drivers ahead of him: Pérez at +3.60 is within reach, and even Lindblad’s +3.71 is no longer insulated by a wide margin.
It’s also a reminder of how this metric can reward repeatability: a 12-place climb is eye-catching, but the bigger significance is that it was enough to reorder the top three without needing the leader to collapse. Hadjar didn’t need a new definition of ‘good’—just a clean, measurable gain from where he started.
George Russell produced one of the weekend’s quieter but more telling ranking swings. He climbed four places in Best average positions gained, from 18th to 14th, even though his average figure remains slight at +0.21 for Mercedes. That contrast is the point: the middle of this table can be extremely sensitive, where marginal averages can still translate into big positional movement when other drivers around you stagnate or drop.
The flip side was Esteban Ocon, who slipped from 3rd to 4th for Haas F1 Team despite still owning a very strong +3.33 average. Singapore underlined how little room there is: Ocon started 12th and finished 13th (lapped) after 61 laps, a one-place loss on the day, and it was enough to yield ground in the season-long average table.
The signals around this update are subtle but important: the leader didn’t change, yet the top three did—exactly the kind of incremental shift you see when the front-runner is holding station while challengers hit a high-impact weekend. With maximum movement magnitude capped at four positions in this update, the change wasn’t chaotic, but it was consequential: Hadjar’s rise came directly at the expense of those who had been occupying the upper tier.
It also sharpens a team-side storyline without needing guesswork. RB F1 Team has the ranking leader in Lindblad, but Red Bull now has a top-three presence through Hadjar’s surge, while Cadillac’s Pérez sits between them. With gaps of 0.11 and 0.31 separating the top three averages (+3.71, +3.60, +3.40), the ranking has become a close-range contest where one strong recovery—or one backward race from the front—can reorder the headline positions again.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | 7 | 3 | +4 | +3.40 |
| George Russell | Mercedes | 18 | 14 | +4 | +0.21 |
| Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | 3 | 4 | -1 | +3.33 |
Lindblad’s +3.71 still sets the benchmark, but Pérez is only 0.11 behind and Hadjar’s jump to +3.40 has turned the top three into a tight cluster. With Ocon still at +3.33 in fourth, a single high-swing recovery (or a backward race from the front) can realistically shuffle the order without the leader changing hands outright.