Six races into 2026, the ‘Most positions gained’ table is still headed by Max Verstappen on +17, even after a Monaco retirement from P2 on the grid. The bigger movement came from Pierre Gasly’s P9 to P3 finish, lifting him six places in the ranking and pushing new names in and out of the top 10.
By Diego Torres
Max Verstappen remains the season leader in Most positions gained after the Monaco Grand Prix, holding P1 on +17. That matters because Monaco was not a points-free Sunday for the metric: Verstappen started P2 and was classified as Retired, with 0 laps completed and a ‘R’ result. With this ranking built from grid-to-finish movement only when a driver is classified, that Monaco result doesn’t add to his total — yet it also doesn’t knock him off top spot.
Instead, the headline shift came from behind him. Liam Lawson stays second on +16 and Fernando Alonso is third on +11, meaning the top three is now a real squeeze rather than a runaway. Verstappen’s advantage is just one place over Lawson in cumulative gain (+17 vs +16), while Alonso is not far enough back for the fight behind to be irrelevant, especially with more volatility likely as the season’s sample grows beyond six races.
Pierre Gasly delivered the clearest Monaco case study in what this ranking is designed to capture: tangible track position recovered between grid and flag. He started P9 and finished P3, a six-place gain in the race itself, scoring 15 points and completing all 78 laps. That single swing doesn’t just read well in isolation — it directly translated into a major ranking jump.
Gasly rose from 14th to 8th in the Most positions gained standings, now sitting on +7 for the season. In a table where the difference between being a fringe top-10 name and a consistent presence can be a single strong recovery, Monaco effectively turned Gasly’s profile from mid-pack anonymity in this metric into a driver worth tracking each week.
Two other movers underlined how quickly this ranking can change once a driver strings together classified races with net gains. Arvid Lindblad climbed six places in the standings, from 18th to 12th, reaching +4 overall for RB F1 Team. The detail that stands out isn’t just the movement — it’s that a +4 total already puts him within touching distance of the back end of the top 10 conversation.
Esteban Ocon produced an even sharper jump in competitive terms: up five positions from 9th to 4th, now on +10 for Haas F1 Team. That puts Ocon within a single net position swing of Alonso’s +11 in third, and it leaves him occupying the uncomfortable space for those ahead: close enough that one more strong recovery from a difficult grid slot could change the order near the podium of this metric.
Monaco’s reshuffle didn’t only create upward momentum; it also forced exits. Lando Norris and Nico Hülkenberg dropped out of the top 10 in Most positions gained after round 6. In Norris’s case, the Monaco result explains the immediate pressure on his tally: he started P8 and was classified as Retired after 43 laps, listed as ‘R’ with 0 points. Because retirements don’t contribute to the gains total unless classified, a weekend like that offers no chance to build the season sum — and can quickly leave a driver overtaken by rivals who do add points-free but position-positive Sundays to their record.
There were also notable slides elsewhere in the standings even when the totals remain positive. Norris fell five places in the ranking from 8th to 13th and sits on +3; Oliver Bearman dropped four spots from 5th to 9th on +5; and Carlos Sainz also fell four from 6th to 10th on +5. The lesson is simple: in a cumulative movement metric, not going backwards is sometimes not enough — you need regular, bankable recoveries to keep your seat in the top 10.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pierre Gasly | Alpine F1 Team | 14 | 8 | +6 | +7 |
| Arvid Lindblad | RB F1 Team | 18 | 12 | +6 | +4 |
| Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | 9 | 4 | +5 | +10 |
Verstappen’s +17 lead survives Monaco because the ranking only counts classified finishes — but the gap to Lawson is down to one (+17 vs +16), and Ocon’s +10 is now just one swing away from Alonso’s +11. With Gasly newly inside the top 10 on +7, the battle for the final top-10 spots looks set to stay fluid as each classified recovery can rewrite the order.