Floor & Diffuser
VerifiedThe underbody shaping that generates most of a modern F1 car's downforce, current ground-effect regulations' main event.
The floor is the flat underside of the car, shaped with channels ('tunnels') that accelerate airflow underneath it. The diffuser is the upward-curving section at the back of the floor, where that fast-moving air expands and slows back down, which is what actually generates the pressure difference (the suction) that produces downforce.
Since the 2022 regulations, the floor and diffuser generate the majority of a car's total downforce, more than the front or rear wing individually, which is why 'ground effect' returned as the defining description of this generation of cars.
Because so much performance now comes from air travelling underneath the car rather than over the wings, floor damage or even small amounts of debris caught under the car can cost real, hard-to-diagnose performance without any obvious visible damage.