Max Verstappen reflects on ground-effect F1 era: “I won’t miss these cars”. Max Verstappen looks back on the ground-effect era in Formula 1.

Max Verstappen believes the goal of Formula 1 and the mind behind the 2022 regulations, Ross Brawn, was not fully achieved.

Verstappen looking ahead to 2026

The return of ground-effect cars in Formula 1 has been dominated by Max Verstappen, who captured three of his four world titles with these machines, alongside 51 wins, 35 pole positions, and 67 podiums. Yet, Super Max is more than happy to close this era of great success and embrace the challenges that 2026 will bring.

According to Max Verstappen, ground-effect cars had more flaws than advantages and proved to Formula 1 itself that allowing drivers to follow each other closely in dirty air was an unrealistic objective. Perhaps the goal was partially achieved in 2022, but it could not withstand the developments of the cars over the following seasons.

Max Verstappen’s words

“I won’t miss these cars. At the beginning, following others was nice, but over time it wasn’t anymore. You might follow a bit better now and have more control, while with the older cars you had extreme oversteer or understeer. But now there’s less downforce and the slipstream doesn’t work like it used to: it’s no longer enough to overtake.”

“I didn’t find them very fun to drive, and they have been far from comfortable over all these years: my back is falling apart and my feet always hurt. If we think about motocross, we really have nothing to complain about, but I preferred the cars from 2015-2016.”

Despite his phenomenal success under the current regulations, Max Verstappen is clearly ready for the technical reset coming in 2026, hoping for cars that are not only faster but also more forgiving on the drivers physically.