The Momentum ranking, measuring recent points-per-race pace against earlier-season scoring, has a new leader after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Max Verstappen’s +8.67 surge coincides with Lando Norris tumbling from 1st to 19th on −1.58.
By Nadia Okafor
Max Verstappen is the new leader of the Momentum ranking after round 15 in Baku, taking over from previous leader Lando Norris. The size of the swing is the story: Verstappen sits on +8.67, while Norris has fallen from 1st to 19th with a −1.58 momentum score, the biggest movement magnitude in the ranking this week at 18 places.
This metric is designed to catch form shifts rather than reward season-long accumulation: it compares a driver’s average championship points per race across the most recent 3 rounds to their average across every earlier round. Verstappen’s +8.67 therefore reads as a sharp acceleration in scoring relative to his own baseline, and it comes immediately after he finished 2nd from 8th on the grid in Azerbaijan, taking 18 points over 51 laps. Norris, by contrast, scored 0 points after retiring on lap 35 from 5th on the grid, and his ranking collapse reflects how quickly a three-race window can rewrite the narrative.
Verstappen’s new advantage isn’t just about dislodging Norris; it’s also about opening daylight to the nearest challengers in the top three. George Russell is 2nd on +5.25 and Isack Hadjar is 3rd on +4.22, leaving Verstappen 3.42 points-per-race of momentum clear of Russell and 4.45 ahead of Hadjar on this measure.
Russell’s presence so close to the top gives the ranking an immediate point of reference from the same weekend: he won in Baku from pole position. The Momentum ranking doesn’t care how those points were earned, only how the recent rate compares to earlier in the season, but Russell’s +5.25 shows his last three rounds have outpaced his own previous scoring level significantly — just not to the Verstappen extent right now.
Arvid Lindblad is the headline riser inside the top 10, jumping 9 places from 14th to 5th with a +2.00 momentum figure. His Azerbaijan result provides context for that upward trend: he finished 7th after starting and qualifying 15th, scoring 6 points across 51 laps — exactly the kind of return that can reshape a three-race average when compared with an earlier-season baseline.
Esteban Ocon also turned his trajectory sharply upward, moving 8 places from 15th to 7th on +1.08 for Haas. And although Carlos Sainz remains just outside the top 10 in 11th, his 6-place rise from 17th is notable because it comes despite a slightly negative momentum number of −0.17, suggesting he is improving relative to others in the ranking order even if his recent points-rate is marginally below his earlier-season pace.
Norris is the standout faller, but he isn’t alone in sliding out of the picture: Oscar Piastri drops 10 places from 10th to 20th with a −2.42 score, and Liam Lawson falls 10 from 8th to 18th on −1.33. That combination matters because it represents a wider momentum downturn for both McLaren drivers and for Lawson at RB, not a single isolated move — and the ranking’s tie-breakers (total season points, then alphabet) aren’t needed to explain these separations given the clear gaps in valueDisplay.
The top-10 turnover reinforces how volatile the measure is once a driver’s three-race form diverges from their earlier average. Norris, Nico Hülkenberg, Lawson, Fernando Alonso and Piastri are this week’s top-10 exits, while Lindblad’s arrival is the most eye-catching new presence in that group. Even within the top 10, there’s a “holding pattern” developing: Lance Stroll sits 8th with 0.00, and Cadillac pair Sergio Pérez (9th) and Valtteri Bottas (10th) are also on 0.00 — a sign their recent scoring rate is matching their earlier-season level rather than spiking or dipping.
| Driver | Team | Before | After | Δ | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lando Norris | McLaren | 1 | 19 | -18 | −1.58 |
| Liam Lawson | RB F1 Team | 8 | 18 | -10 | −1.33 |
| Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 10 | 20 | -10 | −2.42 |
The Momentum ranking has flipped at the top: Verstappen’s +8.67 is now the benchmark, with Russell (+5.25) and Hadjar (+4.22) chasing. The bigger implication is volatility — Norris’s plunge from 1st to 19th shows how quickly a three-round points-rate can swing the “form” picture, while 0.00 scores for Stroll, Pérez and Bottas suggest a stable middle where any uptick could unlock a fast rise into the top positions.