Round 10 at Spa-Francorchamps flipped the top of the grid-to-flag movement ranking, as Sergio Pérez replaced Liam Lawson with a +3.67 average places gained. Behind them, Isack Hadjar’s Belgian GP surge from P21 to P6 reshaped the top 10.
By Julian Reyes
Sergio Pérez is the new leader of 2026’s Best average positions gained ranking after the Belgian Grand Prix, moving from third to first with a +3.67 average. That change matters because this metric is built on a simple, unforgiving measure: official grid position minus final classified result, averaged over the counted races — and it’s sensitive to any grid effects because it uses the starting grid, not qualifying.
The twist is that Pérez’s Spa weekend didn’t read like a clean “positions gained” showcase at all. He started 18th and retired after 13 laps, classified as “R” in 21st, scoring 0 points. Yet over the first 10 races, his season-long pattern of recovering ground has been strong enough to push him past the previous leader Liam Lawson, who now sits second on +3.40, with Esteban Ocon third on +3.25. In other words: the ranking lead changed at Spa, but the explanation is bigger than a single Sunday.
The top three didn’t reshuffle in membership — only in order — which underlines how tight the battle is once you get beyond the headline of a lead change. Pérez at +3.67, Lawson at +3.40, and Ocon at +3.25 is a narrow spread at the front of a ranking that rewards repeatable recovery drives rather than one-off heroics.
Spa also offered a reminder of the ranking’s most important constraint: it only counts classified races with a proper grid slot. A retirement like Pérez’s — from P18 to a classified 21st — is an immediate drag on the per-race gain for that event. The fact he still emerged on top suggests his earlier average had built enough margin to absorb a bad day and still edge ahead, while Lawson’s hold on the lead proved vulnerable to even a small swing over the same 10-race sample.
Isack Hadjar produced the clearest Spa-Francorchamps statement in pure grid-to-finish movement: from 21st on the grid to 6th at the flag, a 15-place gain, on the way to 8 points. That single result helped trigger one of the weekend’s biggest ranking jumps, lifting him five places from 12th to 7th overall on a +2.50 average — turning him from an outsider into a top-10 factor in one round.
The same lens is harsh in the other direction. Arvid Lindblad went backwards at Spa, starting 7th and finishing 9th after 44 laps for 2 points — a two-place loss on the day — and that coincided with the biggest drop among the key movers: down six spots in the ranking, from 7th to 13th, now on a +1.00 average. Gabriel Bortoleto’s fall was almost as steep in ranking terms, slipping five places from 9th to 14th, also on +1.00, illustrating how quickly the midfield of this table can reshuffle when the averages are this compressed.
Hadjar’s rise wasn’t the only change around the top 10. Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon sit side-by-side in the top 10 at ranks 5 and 6, each on +2.67, while Oliver Bearman holds 10th on +2.00 — a cluster that highlights how a small shift in average gain can be the difference between a headline position and being out of sight.
There were also notable exits from the top 10: Arvid Lindblad, Oscar Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Lando Norris dropped out. Piastri’s slide was less dramatic than Lindblad’s in raw movement, but still significant: he fell four places from 8th to 12th and now carries a +1.43 average. With no active streak signal and a maximum movement magnitude of six places this week, Spa played out as a recalibration round — big enough to change the leader and reshuffle the fringes, without completely rewriting the top three.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arvid Lindblad | RB F1 Team | 7 | 13 | -6 | +1.00 |
| Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | 12 | 7 | +5 | +2.50 |
| Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 9 | 14 | -5 | +1.00 |
Pérez’s promotion to first on +3.67 makes the Lawson (+3.40) and Ocon (+3.25) chase immediate and measurable: the top three are separated by fractions of a place per race. Hadjar’s jump to seventh (+2.50) shows how one big recovery can open a path into the top-10 battle, while the exits of Lindblad, Piastri, Bortoleto and Norris underline how quickly the mid-table can swing when averages are close.