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human
[ELI5] Why was ground effect pretty much banned in F1?

Seems strange to me that something that can increase cornering speed like ground effect can is banned?
gpt
It was deemed too dangerous. Ground effects give very strong downforce when they work ie there is little clearance and a good "seal". The big problem is that it has an almost digital effect - it is either working really well and then it doesn't work at all once the "seal" is broken. This was the old days when the seal was actually a flap along the side of the car.

The safety issue is that cars could go into corners REALLY fast with ground effect but if any unsettling occurs, say a slight bump on the road, the cars would immediately lose the ground effect and essentially take off (ie start to fly). There are several examples of that in F1 where the cars would start flying off the road and into competitors completely out of control.

Essentially, it was too unpredictable.