Which drivers have won the most positions through the sprint race format?

The sprint race on Saturday is an opportunity for drivers who had a poor performance during qualifying to make up for it before the actual Grand prix. After four Grand Prix weekends with a Sprint, there are clearly some winners and losers of this new format.

Sprint in F1

In 2021, Formula 1 experimented with the sprint race format for the first time. Qualifying was shifted to the Friday, with the result forming the starting grid for the Sprint race on Saturday and the result of the sprint race forming the starting grid for the main race. So unlike a normal weekend, you have an extra race to gain or lose spots.

The biggest losers after three sprint races were Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly. Gasly lost no less than 18 positions compared to his qualifying result due to the introduction of the sprint race. If those sprint race had not been there on certain weekends Gasly would have been able to start much higher on the grid for Sunday's race. Perez lost a net of 12 positions over those weekends. He made up for his setback at Silverstone 2021 somewhat with his overtaking race at Imola this year.

Winners and losers

The biggest winners of this format are Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Ocon. Both gained a net eight spots from their starting position based on the qualifying result. Hamilton owes this +8 mainly to his overtaking race in Brazil in 2021 with which he won 15 spots.

Ocon's statistics are more striking, as he does not have a single mega difference that gave him a big advantage, but seems to have gained a few spots every sprint race weekend. This means either Ocon is a good racer or he is not fast enough in qualifying.

Max Verstappen hasn't won much with the sprint race format. He ended up with a +1, so at least he has not suffer from the new format. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo did not benefit at all. They won and lost nothing with this new format.