F1 star reveals how abandoned concept harmed drivers' health

Pierre Gasly, Generic, Monaco, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 star reveals how abandoned concept harmed drivers' health

Pierre Gasly was with Alpine for the ground effect era

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 5 January 2026 13:59

Alpine F1 star Pierre Gasly has spoken out about the health issues that the recent ground effect era caused F1 drivers.

The ground effect era in F1 ran from 2022 to 2025, with Max Verstappen winning three of the four drivers' championships in that time.

Red Bull and McLaren will go down as the two teams that really mastered the last set of regulations, while previously successful teams including Ferrari, Mercedes and Alpine all struggled.

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Next season sees new regulations sweeping into the sport, both on the car design side of things and with power units.

And Gasly is one driver who is happy that change is coming, with the Alpine star revealing the back issues that the ground effect cars could cause during long races.

Teams struggled with porpoising throughout the era, an issue that was particularly bad in 2022 when cars appeared to bounce up and down quite violently along the straights.

At the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton, in a Mercedes at the time, said that he was 'praying' for the grand prix to finish due to the bouncing and added stress on his back.

"The one thing we haven’t really been too happy as drivers is just the amount of bouncing," Gasly told media at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"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."

Will the new F1 cars experience porpoising?

The new cars should not experience porpoising anywhere near as badly as in the ground effect era, as they will not be running as low to the ground.

New aerodynamic regulations have been aimed at trying to create more exciting racing, by making cars smaller and more agile.

Cars will be lighter by 30kg in 2026, the wheelbase will be reduced by 20cm and the car width will be reduced by 10cm.

The maximum floor width will also be reduced by 15cm, while the width of the front tyres will be decreased by 2.5cm and the rears by 3cm.

Meanwhile, F1 front wings will be 10cm narrower and will feature a two-element active flap. The rear wing will then have a three-element flap and the lower beam wing has been removed.

The removal of this is key, to ensure that a following car will encounter less turbulence or 'dirty air', a major impediment to overtaking this past year.

On top of this, from 2026 two aero modes will feature, straight mode and corner mode, which will be known as active aerodynamics.

Straight mode is when the front and rear wing flaps open to reduce overall drag and increase top speed, which will be made available to all drivers.

Corner mode takes place at the corners, where the front and rear wing flaps close which increases downforce and therefore cornering speeds.

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