Where places change hands: circuits ranked by position changes

Published Invalid Date · figures as of the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix, round 17.

At Sepang a classified driver finished on average 3.9 places away from where he started; at Jeddah, Mexico City and Suzuka, 2.7. The measure counts every change of position between grid and finish for every driver who was classified, whatever the cause: overtakes, pit strategy, retirements ahead, penalties. It is a measure of how much a race reshuffles the order, not of overtakes alone.

The figures come from this site’s results since 2010, for circuits with at least five races in that time.

Most change

Least change

What drives the difference

The top of the table has long straights into slow corners (Baku’s two-kilometre straight, Spa’s Kemmel straight after Eau Rouge, Sepang’s two back-to-back straights), rain (Sepang, Interlagos, Spa, Hockenheim), and safety cars (Baku, Interlagos). The bottom has circuits whose laps are sequences of medium and fast corners where following is hard (Suzuka, Barcelona) and circuits where qualifying order tends to hold (Abu Dhabi, Jeddah).

The spread, 2.7 to 3.9, is smaller than the pole-to-win spread between circuits (20% to 71%), because the measure includes the whole field: the midfield reshuffles everywhere, while the front stays put at some circuits and not others.

The same question, other measures

• Pole to win: each circuit page gives the share of races won from the first grid place, and the article on pole position and winning ranks the circuits.
• Winners’ grid places: each circuit page shows where its winners started.
• The lap chart: each race page shows every change of position lap by lap, so an overtake on track can be told from a place gained at the pit stops.

Related: Does pole position win the race? · Where the safety car comes out: every circuit ranked · How Formula 1 qualifying works · Most positions gained in a race · Pit stops per race, 1994 to 2026