Johnny Herbert has said he would like to see the former aerodynamic concept of ground effect make a return to Formula One.

Speaking to Read Motorsport at the Autosport International show, Herbert suggested that if the new regulations this year failed to produce close racing, a return to a ground effect concept ought to be something that should be considered, despite the idea already being dismissed.

“I don’t know yet,” said Herbert. “But I think a lot of us feel the racing that was supposed to be brought into effect this year, the better racing, closer racing, might not happen.”

The biggest concern for many fans is that due to the nature of the new regulations, closer racing will become much more difficult thanks to shorter braking distances and corners taken at faster speeds.

“I remember with Martin (Brundle) and Damon (Hill), saying what would we do? It would be ground effect” added Herbert. “But it was thrown out, so it never came into it, so let’s hope I’m wrong and they’ve got it right.”

Ground effect cars were very popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s as it produced such high levels of downforce.

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Read Motorsport’s technical expert Stefan Ruitenberg explains how it works.

“In ground effect, think of the entire car upturned into a large, inverted wing, enhancing the side skirts and underbody design to literally give the driver the impression the car is glued to the floor.

“The Lotus 78 from Colin Chapman was the first competitive ‘ground effect’ F1 design. The design works by increasing the volume of low pressure under the chassis, which is the main gain in downforce.

“With the underbody doing most of the work of controlling the flow to the diffuser, side skirts would be added to enhance the car’s performance.

”The little rubber skirts would trap the flow under the car, meaning no flow would be able to escape, thus enhancing performance.”