End of the bland F1 ground effect era
Discussion
Well it could get worse 2026 but this has been a pretty grim era for F1. Bouncing cars at the start,and bouncing cars at the end.
Seeing a previous era car recently alongside these ones and its so bland. Any innovation hidden away if there is any.
Apart from a swap at the top it doomed most teams and drivers. What a waste of time and talent.
If you are Red Bull it would be regarded as the greatest era I guess.
Seeing a previous era car recently alongside these ones and its so bland. Any innovation hidden away if there is any.
Apart from a swap at the top it doomed most teams and drivers. What a waste of time and talent.
If you are Red Bull it would be regarded as the greatest era I guess.
Not many people will mourn the passing of this era, although it has produced a good competitive season this year. The gap between the from & back of the field is narrower than it has ever been, which meant that big teams with under-performing drivers, eg Perez at Red Bull, or those who couldn’t set their cars up to suit their drivers, eg Ferrari & Hamilton, could & did go out in Q1.
The main problems with the ground effect cars were that they didn’t solve the ‘dirty air’ problem, porpoising was always an issue and the things were just far too big & too heavy. They were like very fast trucks rather than agile racing cars. Thankfully the 26 cars will be smaller & lighter although they may have other issues of course.
The main problems with the ground effect cars were that they didn’t solve the ‘dirty air’ problem, porpoising was always an issue and the things were just far too big & too heavy. They were like very fast trucks rather than agile racing cars. Thankfully the 26 cars will be smaller & lighter although they may have other issues of course.
One of the most noticeable changes is the end of DRS which has dominated racing and overtaking in recent years, to be replaced with more of a 'virtual DRS' battery boost feature. Whether it will have the same effect is not clear, or if there will be any visual signs that it is active for the viewer.
bergclimber34 said:
The big issue with all these hybrid cars is the size of them, the huge tyres and the sounds, they are too big, too grippy and the engines sound the worst motorsport engines on the planet.
I've seen loads of F1 cars up close and I've never been as shocked as when I saw one of this generation for the first time. Absolutely vast. They're about the size of a Rolls Royce. In a way it makes them more impressive because it's incredible they perform how they do.
These rules did introduce a load of different shapes and approaches at first which was great, and it has succeeded in closing the pack up. But it failed on its aim of improving the air flow and allowing cars to follow more closely. Considering there were some very smart people involved, it just feels like an unsolvable problem.
I won't miss this era in the slightest.
I had really high hopes for it prior to its introduction. All the talk about how it would negate the issues of not being able to be within a second of the car in front, due to the dirty air, and giving us closer racing.
When the first test sessions came around, it was great to see the different approaches teams had taken.
But it soon became clear that RB had got the right solution (all credit to them). Others were very quickly scrambling to emulate their design.
The porpoising issue killed the first year for many teams, and it took four years to get to the point where another team was able to consistently compete with RB.
I think the only benefit was, it made the mid-field even tighter which meant there were at least some decent battles to watch.
I hope that the new regs inject a bit of life into the 2026 season, that they shake up the status quo and allow some of the mid-field teams to actually challenge for wins.
But we have seen very recently how well the 'push-pass' or 'temporary power boost' gimmick works, in the BTCC. I think people tend to forget, that these extra power options can be used to defend, as well as attack. And you end up with situations like the 'DRS train', where no one can get past.
I guess all we can do, is wait and see.
I had really high hopes for it prior to its introduction. All the talk about how it would negate the issues of not being able to be within a second of the car in front, due to the dirty air, and giving us closer racing.
When the first test sessions came around, it was great to see the different approaches teams had taken.
But it soon became clear that RB had got the right solution (all credit to them). Others were very quickly scrambling to emulate their design.
The porpoising issue killed the first year for many teams, and it took four years to get to the point where another team was able to consistently compete with RB.
I think the only benefit was, it made the mid-field even tighter which meant there were at least some decent battles to watch.
I hope that the new regs inject a bit of life into the 2026 season, that they shake up the status quo and allow some of the mid-field teams to actually challenge for wins.
But we have seen very recently how well the 'push-pass' or 'temporary power boost' gimmick works, in the BTCC. I think people tend to forget, that these extra power options can be used to defend, as well as attack. And you end up with situations like the 'DRS train', where no one can get past.
I guess all we can do, is wait and see.
durbster said:
I've seen loads of F1 cars up close and I've never been as shocked as when I saw one of this generation for the first time. Absolutely vast. They're about the size of a Rolls Royce.
In a way it makes them more impressive because it's incredible they perform how they do.
These rules did introduce a load of different shapes and approaches at first which was great, and it has succeeded in closing the pack up. But it failed on its aim of improving the air flow and allowing cars to follow more closely. Considering there were some very smart people involved, it just feels like an unsolvable problem.
Unless they spec the rules to somehow have the aero ‘repair’ the airflow behind the lead car punching a hole you’re always going to have this with aero cars.In a way it makes them more impressive because it's incredible they perform how they do.
These rules did introduce a load of different shapes and approaches at first which was great, and it has succeeded in closing the pack up. But it failed on its aim of improving the air flow and allowing cars to follow more closely. Considering there were some very smart people involved, it just feels like an unsolvable problem.
You can’t displace an object (air) and then have a second car that requires the same air to do the job have the same performance. It’s like trying to float a ship over a methane leak in the sea, the methane displaces the water and… glub, glub…
I do wonder if the rules will make it worse though. We saw this year on the low downforce tracks that DRS was reduced when the default wing was dental floss, if they’ve got adjusted aero, there may be insufficient differential on the straights.
I haven’t read the rules again in detail but I guess if the aero has to be ‘movable by the driver’ are they going to have it triggered by the driver ‘moving’ the brake pedal à la DRS shut off so we’re back to late brake heroes?
rwindmill said:
...And you end up with situations like the 'DRS train', where no one can get past.
I wonder if they could add a new rule that you don't get DRS if the car behind you is within 1 second. That solves the DRS train problem and might mix things up a bit as they try to escape the trap.
thekingisdead said:
They're removing one of the energy recovery systems I think (MGU-K?)
so the cars will be lighter. still not light and agile enough for my liking (600kg V10's please!) but its a move in the right direction.
They're losing the MGU-H, so that should make them sound a bit louder.so the cars will be lighter. still not light and agile enough for my liking (600kg V10's please!) but its a move in the right direction.
They won't be lighter, though. They need a much bigger battery to achieve the 50/50 power split. They've reduced the overall size of the cars slightly to try to make them a bit lighter, but overall they won't be.
Hub said:
One of the most noticeable changes is the end of DRS which has dominated racing and overtaking in recent years, to be replaced with more of a 'virtual DRS' battery boost feature. Whether it will have the same effect is not clear, or if there will be any visual signs that it is active for the viewer.
They'll be a little flag with "TURBO" written on it which pops up out of the bodywork when they deploy 
In all seriousness, it's hard to say whether I'll miss it or not. At least until we see what next season throws out. For me the worst thing about this era is that one team nailed the regs and dominated for 2 1/2 seasons, and then only 1 other team managed to catch up. But on the flip side the midfield were a lot closer with everyone getting a shot at Q3 and a points scoring position, to the point that you didn't really have many outliers or obvious backmarkers.
We'll never know, but it would have been interesting if they'd continued a few more seasons with these regs to see who else might have closed the gap up front. I just hope that next season more than one team manage to get it right from the start...
Zetec-S said:
Hub said:
One of the most noticeable changes is the end of DRS which has dominated racing and overtaking in recent years, to be replaced with more of a 'virtual DRS' battery boost feature. Whether it will have the same effect is not clear, or if there will be any visual signs that it is active for the viewer.
They'll be a little flag with "TURBO" written on it which pops up out of the bodywork when they deploy We will miss how close the field has been from mid 2024 til now.
New regs will make overtaking impossible and we will be begging for something akin to DRS - but won’t be do-able until next set of regs.
Looking forward to a shake up for something new, but not expecting anything thrilling
New regs will make overtaking impossible and we will be begging for something akin to DRS - but won’t be do-able until next set of regs.
Looking forward to a shake up for something new, but not expecting anything thrilling
SpudLink said:
In the BBC s Chequered Flag podcast, Damon Hill s view of the current cars could be summed up as goodbye and good riddance .
Unfortunately I fear the next generation will be worse.
it's definitely a case of be careful for what one wishes for. it remains to be seen exactly how things turn out obviously but a lot of the power delivery/regen type rules don't particularly point to the next cars/races being particularly exciting to watch......Unfortunately I fear the next generation will be worse.
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