Oscar Piastri’s 7th-to-5th drive in Barcelona nudged him up two places in the season’s ‘Most positions gained’ table. At the top, Max Verstappen continues to set the pace on +18 after starting fifth and finishing fourth.
By Camille Fontaine
Oscar Piastri delivered the most meaningful swing in the ‘Most positions gained’ ranking after the Barcelona Grand Prix, moving from seventh to fifth in the season standings on +9. His Sunday was a clean, measurable step forward in the terms this metric rewards: grid seventh, classified fifth, a net gain of two places that also brought 10 points to his tally.
That matters because the top of this table hasn’t shifted: Max Verstappen remains the leader on +18 and the podium positions are unchanged, with Liam Lawson second on +16 and Fernando Alonso third on +11. Verstappen added to his case with another upward conversion in Spain, improving from fifth on the grid to fourth at the flag for 12 points — a reminder that the season-long lead is being built on repeated, incremental recoveries rather than one outlier surge.
The other storylines were more about lost opportunity. Alexander Albon slipped two places in the ranking, from fifth down to seventh, despite still holding a healthy +8 season gain overall — Barcelona was simply neutral by this measure as he started 18th and was classified 18th (lapped) for zero points. Lando Norris edged up from 13th to 12th on +4, one place of progress in the standings that underlines how tight the mid-table can be when the biggest single-round movement available this week was only two positions.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 7 | 5 | +2 | +9 |
| Alexander Albon | Williams | 5 | 7 | -2 | +8 |
| Lando Norris | McLaren | 13 | 12 | +1 | +4 |
With only two-place swings available among the key movers in Barcelona, the season table is being shaped by steady accumulation: Verstappen’s +18 lead remains intact, while Piastri’s move to fifth on +9 is the clearest sign that the chase behind the top three can change quickly with just one strong grid-to-flag recovery.