A bruising Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia run at Sepang kept George Russell at the top of the ‘Most positions lost’ table on −7, while Pierre Gasly’s climb to second reshuffled the chase.
By Julian Reyes
George Russell remains the driver who has shed the most net places across the 2026 season so far, holding P1 in the ‘Most positions lost’ ranking on −7 after round 16 at Sepang. The headline moment behind that number this weekend was stark: Russell started from P7 and was classified as a retirement in P20 after 49 laps, a single-race swing that underlined why his season total still sits at the top of this particular table.
What makes Russell’s hold more noteworthy is that the podium places behind him are tightening and changing shape. With the top three now Russell (−7), Pierre Gasly (−6) and Charles Leclerc (−4), the table is increasingly defined by fine margins: one more difficult Sunday can flip the order, but Sepang didn’t quite deliver the shake-up at the very top.
The biggest consequence of Sepang for this ranking was behind the leader. Gasly has moved up to P2 on −6, a jump that matters because it puts him within a single net place of Russell’s season-long total. That shift also confirms that the ‘Most positions lost’ picture isn’t just a story about one outlier weekend; it’s becoming a multi-driver fight to avoid being the season’s biggest net loser from grid to flag.
Leclerc sits third on −4, close enough to stay in the frame but far enough back that he needs a sustained run of position losses to become a genuine threat for the unwanted lead. In other words, Sepang didn’t merely add points on a spreadsheet: it reordered the pressure points, with Gasly now the clearest reference for whether Russell can “stabilise” his season movement-wise or remains vulnerable to being caught.
Two contrasting races capture why this ranking can be counterintuitive. Gabriel Bortoleto is actually trending the right way in the season table, gaining three places in the ranking from P7 to P4 on −3, yet his Sepang result was a major backwards step on track: he qualified and started 10th, finished 18th, and scored 0 points after 55 laps. In this metric, one bad Sunday can be partly “masked” by earlier damage already done—or by others having even costlier weekends.
Franco Colapinto illustrates the opposite dynamic. He finished 13th after starting 21st (55 laps, 0 points), but his ranking position still dropped sharply: down five places from P12 to P17, with a season figure shown as +19. That tension—moving forward in a race but slipping in a season-long movement table—shows how heavily the year-to-date net balance matters, not just the most recent recovery drive.
The top-10 border shifted as Nico Hülkenberg exited the top 10 after a rough weekend in the ranking context, dropping four spots from P10 to P14 with a +12 season mark. With this methodology excluding pit-lane starts, that matters: every ‘proper grid slot’ start carries the same risk-reward profile in this table, and sliding out of the top 10 suggests Hülkenberg’s season has moved from “in the danger zone” to a slightly safer band—though still volatile enough to swing back.
At the same time, Lance Stroll became a new top-10 entrant, appearing P6 on +2. And Sepang offered a reminder of how quickly Sundays can swing: Arvid Lindblad was the biggest mover in the field, gaining 12 places from grid to finish, yet his ranking position still sank from P16 to P21 with a +26 season display. That combination hints at a season where even standout recoveries may not be enough to cancel earlier losses, keeping the lower end of the table in flux as the schedule advances.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franco Colapinto | Alpine F1 Team | 12 | 17 | -5 | +19 |
| Arvid Lindblad | RB F1 Team | 16 | 21 | -5 | +26 |
| Nico Hülkenberg | Audi | 10 | 14 | -4 | +12 |
Russell’s −7 keeps him narrowly in front, but Gasly’s rise to −6 makes the lead fragile: one more significant grid-to-flag loss could flip this ranking. With the top 10 changing at the margins (Stroll in, Hülkenberg out) and big single-race swings still occurring, the season trend remains about avoiding sudden Sundays that rewrite the net balance.