After five races, Max Verstappen’s cumulative grid-to-flag gains remain the benchmark at +17. The Canadian Grand Prix was still a turning point inside the top three as Lewis Hamilton’s climb from fifth to second vaulted him four places up the season ranking.
By Elena Marsh
Max Verstappen leaves Montreal still leading the 2026 Most positions gained ranking, holding firm on a season total of +17 after round 5 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. With no change at the top, the story of Canada became less about a new leader and more about who is starting to apply pressure behind him as the sample of classified, grid-start races grows to five.
Verstappen’s own Canadian return was a reminder of how this metric is built: he started sixth and finished third, turning a single-race gain into a steady accumulation. Those three places recovered were worth 15 points on the day, but in this ranking they function as another layer of evidence that he has repeatedly been able to convert imperfect grid positions into strong final classifications.
Canada delivered the biggest ranking move of the weekend: Lewis Hamilton surged from seventh to third in the season table, a four-place rise that puts him on +6 overall. The immediate trigger was tangible and straightforward — Hamilton started fifth in Montreal and finished second, banking a three-position gain in a single afternoon while completing 68 laps and scoring 18 points.
That combination matters because ties in this ranking are broken by total season points, so Hamilton’s upward momentum comes with a safety net if he ends up level on cumulative gains later. More importantly, it signals a developing pattern: the Ferrari driver is now turning strong Sundays into measurable, bankable movement in a ranking designed to capture recovery drives rather than raw pace or points alone.
With Verstappen unchanged at P1, the fight that defines the table right now is the one to his nearest challenger. Liam Lawson remains second on +12 for RB F1 Team, which means the gap to the lead sits at five positions gained after five races — not an insurmountable margin in a metric where a single big recovery can swing the picture quickly.
Hamilton’s move into third also reshapes the top group: the top three has changed even though the leader hasn’t. The stakes are clear without exaggeration: as the calendar progresses, it becomes harder to find huge totals unless a driver routinely starts behind where the car can finish, so consolidating early gains — as Verstappen has — can be as valuable as a one-off leap.
Ferrari’s weekend produced a secondary storyline beyond Hamilton. Charles Leclerc climbed from 16th to 13th in the season ranking, up three places, even though his total sits at just +1. That contrast is the point: early-season mid-pack volatility means small cumulative numbers can still translate to meaningful ranking position changes, especially when several drivers are clustered together on similar totals.
Pierre Gasly shows the flip side. He dropped from 12th to 14th in the ranking (down two places) despite holding a season value of +1, illustrating how fragile those lower order spots are when the field is tightly packed. Gasly’s Canadian race itself was a clear recovery — he started 14th, finished eighth, was classified Lapped after 67 laps and scored 4 points — but the ranking is cumulative, and others around him have simply kept pace or moved ahead in the season totals.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 7 | 3 | +4 | +6 |
| Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 16 | 13 | +3 | +1 |
| Pierre Gasly | Alpine F1 Team | 12 | 14 | -2 | +1 |
Verstappen’s +17 lead is being consolidated rather than chipped away, but the reshuffled top three matters: Lawson remains within five on +12, and Hamilton’s rise to +6 brings a points-backed tie-break advantage into play if the totals converge.