Why Alonso and his F1 rivals “will not miss” ground-effect cars

Double Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso is keenly looking forward to the end of the ground-effect era with the series introducing a new set of regulations in 2026. 

F1 cars are set for changes to both the power unit and chassis, as they will be lighter and smaller with more emphasis on electrical energy featuring a near 50-50 split with the internal combustion engine. 

This will mark the end of ground-effect cars which were introduced in 2022 with the aim of creating better racing by increasing downforce levels – particularly when following a car closely. 

But it has not completely transpired as such with various issues throughout, from porpoising in early 2022 to overtaking being very difficult in 2025 given the dirty air problem that exists. 

So Alonso said he “will not miss this generation of cars”, but acknowledged that may change given the 2026 machines are slower than the current ones which are up there as the quickest in history. 

“Next year probably we will go slower and we will miss them when we drive the next cars, because we always want to be as fast as possible,” said the Aston Martin driver ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

“But I think the [current] cars are definitely too heavy, they are too big and the ground effect and the ride heights we are racing are not really fun to drive.

“And probably even to follow cars, the expectations of this regulation that it was to follow closely and to have a better action on track was not really a success. Maybe the first year a little bit, but not after that. So, yeah, I don’t think that we will miss too much of this.”

One of the reasons for overtaking being more difficult than it was a few years ago is the grid being more compact as teams have developed their way through the ground-effect era.

In Brazil qualifying, for example, less than a second separated the top 15 so if each car is running at a similar pace, it is very difficult to close in and make an overtake. That’s heightened by the fact that the dirty air effect has increased since 2022, which is all evident in 15 of 21 grands prix being won from pole this year. 

So Max Verstappen, who’s dominated much of the current era, echoed Alonso’s thoughts that the ground-effect generation hasn’t necessarily worked as intended.

“I won’t miss these cars,” said Verstappen. “It was good for a while in the beginning [the dirty air], but not anymore. I do think you can follow a bit better, a bit more controlled anyway.

“With those old cars, you really had extreme oversteer or understeer in certain places, and you don’t have that now. Now there’s just less downforce and you have the problem that the slipstream with these cars isn’t as efficient anymore. On some tracks, it’s simply not enough for overtaking.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Jayce Illman / Getty Images

The four-time world champion even reported the physical difficulties he’s faced with the ground-effect cars, considering they are approximately 50kg heavier than the end of 2021. 

“I didn’t find them the most fun to drive, to be honest,” the Red Bull driver added. “It hasn’t been comfortable at all, all these years – my whole back is falling apart and my feet always hurt. 

“Physically, it hasn’t been the best. When you do scans, they don’t look good. On the other hand, if you look at motocross, we have nothing to complain about. But if you know what it was or what it could be, I’d rather go for what we had in 2015-2016.”

This isn’t to say that the 2026 cars are perfect or exactly what the championship needs, as it has been well documented the kind of problems drivers have faced in the simulator.

Charles Leclerc, for example, said it wasn’t the most fun to drive and there was even talk of ditching the next era of power units early in favour of V8s – but in Las Vegas George Russell confirmed he’s excited for the change. 

“It’s going in the right direction, making the cars smaller, lighter,” said the Mercedes driver, who also hasn’t particularly enjoyed ground-effect machines but echoed Alonso’s point regarding their speed being a positive. 

“You always remember the good stuff from something in the past. You never really remember the bad stuff. So I’m sure we’re going to miss that high-speed performance and we’ll probably forget about the negatives. But that’s just how life goes.”

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