The 2022 ground-effect regulations brought a fresh set of challenges for F1 teams. With the re-introduction of venturi tunnels that put a larger emphasis on generating downforce via the floor, teams faced newer hurdles in the development of these ground-effect cars. Apparently, these troubles are still plaguing the development of many teams, as explained by F1 expert Edd Straw.
In a YouTube video for ‘The Race’, Straw highlighted these challenges. He said, “In recent years, tales of new packages that either don’t correlate with simulations or cause problematic characteristics and make the cars difficult to drive have become the norm.”
Straw added how teams often drop their upgrade packages partially or completely, if they don’t correlate with their car’s previous progress. Moreover, the relationship between the car’s mechanical aspects such as the suspension and the aerodynamic flow around has also become a complicated puzzle to decode.
Revised front wing and geometry and suspension on the McLaren. #F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/QgnWIz0uhw
— Thomas Maher (@thomasmaheronf1) June 28, 2024
The Race expert recalled what Mercedes’ technical director James Allison said about teams having to tread the fine balance between their front wing, the suspension, and the floor geometry. A misstep in either of these areas and the car can throw up several issues about the drivability and aerodynamic efficiency.
Mercedes particularly, have struggled with this balance. Meanwhile, other teams like Aston Martin are struggling with the lack of correlation in their upgrade packages this season, causing them to take a major step back.
There have been other factors too, which have confused teams in their car development trajectory. The ground effect cars have been very sensitive to provide consistent performance across a wide variety of tracks if teams don’t have the right concept.
McLaren acing it, Red Bull and Ferrari have had setbacks
In 2024, barring McLaren, all other teams have had to deal with the track-specific trait of the ground-effect cars with the pecking order changing at most race weekends. While Red Bull and Ferrari have competed with the Woking outfit on low downforce tracks, high downforce circuits like Hungary and Zandvoort have been McLaren’s dominant territory.
It is safe to say that McLaren has the most consistent car in the field this season, operating at the top at a wide range of circuits. As for their upgrades, the British team has tried to bring major packages in one go to take a big step up in performance.
They may have avoided the back-and-forth loop of making a misstep with incremental upgrades like Ferrari did in Spain. The Italian outfit had a great car initially and their Imola upgrade was also working well. However, the Barcelona package re-introduced the porpoising phenomenon to the SF-24 — where the airflow was getting stalled under the floor.
This compromised their development trajectory for several races until their Italian GP upgrades ironed out these issues to put them back into podium contention. Ferrari had to drop a major chunk of their Spain upgrades during this time before the Monza package.
9⃣ upgrades for Ferrari this weekend
#ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/Nx9X5aGPc5
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) August 30, 2024
Red Bull, on the other hand, is experiencing issues of its own making with the aggressive RB20 concept. Their issues mainly center around the stiffness of their suspension and the inability to smoothly ride kerbs and bumpy track surfaces. This has more to do with the mechanical aspects of the car rather than the aerodynamics, as Red Bull is generating good downforce.
However, their upgrades’ effectiveness has been under the radar, with its Hungary package not delivering the expected gains. Earlier this year, they were seemingly heading toward the limit of performance they can achieve via their concept. However, McLaren’s development suggests that these regulations may have a higher ceiling.
Will teams hit the limit under the ground effect regulations?
Straw also discussed this notion of teams heading towards the limit of improving performance under the ground effect regulations. With only one season remaining under the current regulations’ cycle, that is quite possible. However, with several challenges and complications that teams are facing, it is unlikely that all teams can reach this limit in 2025.
Currently, the top four teams — Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes — seem way ahead in the pecking order. And with the 2026 regulation changes also on the horizon, these teams may look to switch focus on nailing that formula, if they reach the threshold limit of performance with the ground effect cars.
Even if any team on the grid falters in figuring out these regulations and resolving their challenges next season, they will look to write it off and focus on the big reset of 2026, given that is more important from a long-term perspective.
