The Japanese Grand Prix reshuffled an early-season ranking that punishes drivers who repeatedly go backwards from their grid slots. Arvid Lindblad now heads it on −4, while Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton dropped sharply down the order despite strong race outcomes in Japan.
By Diego Torres
The headline change after the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka is at the very top: Arvid Lindblad has replaced Andrea Kimi Antonelli as the 2026 leader in the ‘most positions lost’ ranking. Lindblad’s own Sunday underlined how quickly this table can swing early in a season — he started 10th and finished 14th over 53 laps, a four-place loss that leaves him on −4 overall and, by the ranking’s methodology, in P1 for net ground shed across the first three races.
That lead is already being squeezed from multiple directions. Gabriel Bortoleto is tied with Lindblad on −4 for the season, while Isack Hadjar’s Suzuka run from eighth to 12th (also 53 laps) adds another four-place slide in Japan but still moves him up the ranking: he is the round’s biggest climber within the table, jumping from sixth to third on −3 as others fall away.
The weekend’s most dramatic movements weren’t at the top, but in the churn beneath it. Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Oliver Bearman each tumbled eight places in the ranking order: Leclerc fell from third to 11th (now +2), Hamilton from seventh to 15th (now +3), and Bearman from eighth to 16th (now +5). In a measure that accumulates grid-to-flag change across races, those positive totals are crucial: they signal that, so far, their seasons are trending in the opposite direction to the drivers repeatedly losing net places.
That same shake-up pushed several names out of the top 10 altogether — Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Oliver Bearman among the exits — while Franco Colapinto (ranked fifth on −1) arrived as a new presence around the leading group. With only three races completed, the margins are still tight enough that a single Suzuka-sized swing can rewrite the picture, but the tie at −4 at the top already hints at a season-long fight to avoid being the one who bleeds the most positions.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 3 | 11 | -8 | +2 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 7 | 15 | -8 | +3 |
| Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 8 | 16 | -8 | +5 |
Three races in, the ‘most positions lost’ lead is already a dead heat at −4 between Lindblad and Bortoleto, while Hadjar’s move to third on −3 keeps the front group compressed. The big drops for Leclerc, Hamilton and Bearman — all shifting eight places down the ranking — show how quickly drivers can remove themselves from contention for this unwanted crown when their season totals move into positive territory.