A single clean result at Suzuka was enough to catapult Oscar Piastri from 20th to ninth in the 2026 ‘most top-10 finishes’ ranking. Up front, the benchmark remains perfection: three from three for Antonelli, Russell and Leclerc.
By Camille Fontaine
Oscar Piastri’s Japanese Grand Prix result did more than add points — it finally put a mark on his consistency ledger. By finishing second at Suzuka from third on the grid, Piastri registered his first top-10 finish of 2026 and rocketed 11 positions in the ‘most top-10 finishes’ ranking, from 20th to ninth. In a table built on simple accumulation, that kind of jump is what happens when the early-season sample is still only three races deep and a single classified top-10 can reshape the midfield.
At the top, there’s no movement because there’s nothing to separate the leaders on the primary metric. Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Suzuka win — 25 points for a pole-to-flag 53-lap finish — keeps him on a perfect three top-10 finishes from three races, matched by Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, also on three. With the top three unchanged, the early narrative is less about who’s leading and more about who can stay on the streak long enough for it to become meaningful when the calendar grows.
The same Suzuka weekend underlined how fragile this ranking is to a non-finish, because retirements never count. Oliver Bearman’s retirement after 20 laps means he remains on one top-10 finish for the year but drops from fifth to 10th — a five-place slide that shows how quickly others can pass you simply by being classified in the points places. Haas has a contrasting subplot, though: Esteban Ocon moved the other way, climbing four places from 16th to 12th with one top-10 finish, a reminder that in a consistency-based table, one solid Sunday can undo a lot of early drift.
Further down the order, small changes hint at the churn still to come. Lando Norris edged up from sixth to fifth on two top-10 finishes, while Isack Hadjar exiting the top 10 and Piastri entering it is a snapshot of how quickly the cut line is moving after only three rounds.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 20 | 9 | +11 | 1 |
| Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 5 | 10 | -5 | 1 |
| Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | 16 | 12 | +4 | 1 |
With only three races completed, the ‘most top-10 finishes’ ranking is still extremely elastic: a first top-10 can produce double-digit position gains, while a retirement can quickly erase earlier progress. The lead remains defined by flawless consistency — Antonelli, Russell and Leclerc are all three-from-three — so the next phase is about who can keep matching that completion rate as the sample grows.