F1 Places Gained 2026: Who Really Moves Up on Sunday?

F1 places gained 2026 figures mostly track where a driver starts, not how well they race. In GridRaces data for rounds 1 to 17, Isack Hadjar gains 3.00 places per classified finish, from an average grid slot of 9.3 to an average finish of 6.3. George Russell, who starts fifth on average, loses 0.67. Max Verstappen, the best of the title contenders, gains 1.29. The leaderboard is real, but you have to read it with its ceiling in view.

Who leads F1 places gained 2026?

The table below counts classified finishes with a recorded grid slot in rounds 1 to 17, for drivers with at least 12 such races. It subtracts finish position from grid position, so a positive number means places gained. Retirements and pit-lane starts are excluded, so the figures describe drivers who reached the flag from a normal grid slot. They do not include the United States Grand Prix, which is not in the database yet.

Pérez is left out of the table below because his figure comes from the back of the grid, which we come back to later. Three groups stand out. Hadjar and Liam Lawson gain more than two places a race because they start in the middle of the pack, where cars are close and any clean first lap pays. Verstappen, Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli sit between +0.7 and +1.3, the range of drivers who start near the front and still find something. At the bottom, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc and Russell lose between half a place and two thirds of one.

Why do front-row starters lose places?

Because they have nowhere to go. A driver starting on pole can only keep the position or give it up. Russell's average grid slot is 4.3 and his average finish is 5.0. Leclerc's are 4.1 and 4.7. Neither number is a sign of a poor race pace by itself; both sit close to the ceiling that top-five starters share. GridRaces data shows pole converted to a win in 12 of 17 scored rounds, so the front of the grid is rarely where the order changes.

That is the first lesson: averaging places gained across a season punishes the drivers who qualify well. Antonelli, who started in the top three in 12 of his 17 classified races, still gains 0.71 on average. For a driver who spends most of his season at the front, that is a quiet endorsement of his race management.

Where does Verstappen's +1.29 come from?

Verstappen's average grid slot is 5.7, which is 1.4 places behind Hamilton's 4.3. His average finish is 4.4, only 0.3 behind Hamilton's 4.1. The gap closes on Sunday because Red Bull qualifies behind its race pace. The team's pit-stop data fits the pattern: Red Bull has the tightest middle-half spread of stop times in the field, which protects the places won on track.

It also matters for the standings. Red Bull is level with McLaren on points for third in the constructors' table, and Verstappen's Sunday gains are doing the carrying. Hadjar's 3.00 is the other half of that story. His grid slots are modest, but the finishes are not; our Austin piece on Hadjar's grid slot and lap one covers the other side of that coin.

Is places gained a fair measure of racing?

Not alone. There are two objections worth taking seriously.

The first is the ceiling effect described above: gains scale with how far back you start. The second is survivorship. Because the table counts only classified finishes, a driver who retired from a strong position is not penalised, and a driver who recovered from a penalty is not rewarded for the full climb. Cadillac's Sergio Pérez shows the problem from the other end. He tops the raw list at +3.42 places from an average grid slot of 19.3, yet has no points in those finishes. Climbing from the back is not the same as racing at the front; for the opposite extreme, see Fernando Alonso's tidy record of never losing a place.

A fairer comparison is gain against starting slot, and the numbers support one claim: among the top-six starters, Verstappen and Norris extract more than their grid position suggests, while Leclerc and Russell give some back.

What should you take from it before Mexico City?

The next round is the Mexico City Grand Prix on 1 November 2026, where Antonelli can clinch the title. With a tight midfield, grid slot and the first lap will matter. Expect the rows at the top of the table, Hadjar and Verstappen, to be the drivers most likely to move up on Sunday, and the rows at the bottom to be the ones with the least to gain.

That is a prediction, not a result. It rests on 17 rounds of data, and the United States Grand Prix is not yet in it.

What is the verdict?

Treat places gained as a read on starting position first and race craft second. The useful comparisons are within a grid band: Verstappen against Hamilton, Norris against Piastri, Russell against Antonelli. Within those pairs, the Red Bull and the McLaren number one are doing the extra work, and Russell is the one drifting backwards.

Check each driver's race-by-race pattern in Telemetry and track the points in the standings. Then use that form when you make your next picks.