Your rank on the leaderboards is only affected(AFAIK) by that triangle with the exclamation point. That is caused by hitting something, going off the track, or using rewind.
I think I have done pretty good on my times. I don't recall the exact percentages for any of them, but I am usually second or third out of all my friends. I think I am in the top %1 with one of the cars.
And I have everything off except for the Automatic shifting. I think my times would be better if I used manual but my brain cannot handle doing that on the controller.