Ground effects rules dubbed unsustainable for drivers as F1 enters new era
Pierre Gasly has described the ground effect era as 'unsustainable' for drivers.
The physical toll that the ground effect era took on drivers was not sustainable, according to Pierre Gasly.
New regulations for the F1 2026 season will move the sport away from ground effects and into an all-new regulatory era that sees dramatic changes to both chassis and power unit rules.
Pierre Gasly pleased to move away from ground effect era
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Under the previous ruleset, significant performance could be found by running cars close to the ground.
While that resulted in strong gains in downforce, it came at a price as cars impacted the ground, a force transferred to the drivers.
“The one thing we haven’t really been too happy as drivers is just the amount of bouncing,” Gasly said of the ground effect era.
“Obviously, ground effect cars need to run as low as you can, but physically for our backs, I think we all agree that it’s been rough.
“It’s not sustainable over like a full career, so I think that’s a good thing, that they sort of moved away from it.”
Now a veteran of the sport, Gasly is not alone in his complaints, with Haas rookie Oliver Bearman also happy that the ground effect era has come to an end.
“The bounce thing and the ride and the uncomfortableness of these cars, they are horrible,” he said.
“Coming from tracks like Las Vegas, Mexico, even Qatar a little bit, the stiffness that you have to run to achieve performance with these cars means that you are getting out the car and can’t sleep the night because your back is hurting that much.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that in a racing car, because I never had bouncing or issues with focusing or any of that.
“That’s a horrible sensation and a horrible feeling when driving the car.
“When you’re purely talking about performance, you know you can go from FP3 with a certain fuel load and a certain grip level, and the car is absolutely fine, and then you get to qualifying, suddenly you start bouncing, and you lose a infinite amount of lap time, because the confidence drop is just exponential.
“I really hope the next year cars don’t bounce, especially if I want to have a long career in F1.
“If they continue like this, I don’t think many of us would see all those guys racing into their late 40s, like Lewis and Fernando.”
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“I struggle to be comfortable, especially sleeping,” Bearman added.
“It’s challenging, the day after a race, and you know, sometimes even two days after the race, when it’s a tough track; Mexico is a good example, where you have to ride the curves, and that is just just painful.
“You’re really counting down those last 15 laps. You’re really wanting it to end because it hurts quite a lot.
“Normally, you have the corners, which is putting you on the load and is the challenging part, and generally you have the straights to regain your breath and regain your concentration, but then you’re getting bounced up and down in the straights as well, there’s actually no rest in the race.
“That’s the difficult part, and that’s the part that is horrible, and I hope goes away.”
New regulations for F1 2026 revert to more traditional aerodynamic principles, with significantly reduced influence from the floor.
Moveable wings will also be implemented in conjunction with an increase in electrical energy from the power unit.
It promises to change the shape of racing, with a greater emphasis on energy management and deployment, with concerns it will lead to an alien product on track.
“I think it will take some time, and probably we need to be very open-minded on what we might see,” Gasly added.
“But ultimately, what I want is to be fighting at the front of the field, regardless of whatever type of racing we have, just want to be at the front.”
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