From criticism to incredible: How F1’s modern ground-effect cars will be remembered

Formula 1 bids farewell to the current ground-effect cars in just a few races’ time, but how will the concept be remembered? Some of the F1 team bosses have had their say…

F1 moves to an entirely different aerodynamic philosophy in 2026, returning to active aerodynamics for the first time since their banning at the end of 1993 (when active suspension was used to provide a stable aero platform). The current cars, which utilised ground effect for their primary source of downforce, will be consigned to the history books, but will they be remembered with fondness?

Laurent Mekies: Ground effect cars have given us a great show

Ground effect as a concept was banned in 1982, with F1 then embarking on almost 40 continuous years of utilising overbody airflow to generate downforce by pushing the c