Pierre Gasly has issued a damning takedown of the health implications imposed upon Formula 1 drivers during the ground-effect era of the sport.
The four-year regulation cycle with the cars came to an end upon the conclusion of the 2025 season, and was met by a largely negative reflection from drivers.
Whilst improving over time, the extreme bouncing – known commonly in F1 as ‘porpoising’ – was omnipresent since the cars’ introduction in the 2022 season.
And Gasly, who completed his eighth season in F1 last year and is readying himself for his ninth in 2026, believes that the level of movement would cause long-term effects to drivers.
“The one thing we haven’t really been too happy as drivers is just the amount of bouncing,” the Frenchman said.
“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.”
The porpoising triggered complaints throughout the cycle, with Max Verstappen and Oliver Bearman recently being drivers who were outspoken on the pain the cars were causing them.
Infamously, at the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton revealed post-race that he was “praying for the race to end” after suffering from extreme porpoising.
The seven-time World Champion was pushed to an extent that he even found it a struggle to extricate himself from his Mercedes car after arriving in parc ferme after the chequered flag.
Porpoising was recently recognised by the FIA’s single-seater director, Nikolas Tombazis, as an oversight when the regulations were drawn up.
And despite the 2026 rulebook boasting new aerodynamic features on cars, which should render ground-effect a thing of the past, Tombazis warned that the issue may not be completely eradicated.
READ MORE – FIA admits to missing key flaw during ground-effect F1 era
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