to my knowledge banning ground effect devices and geometries has been a decades long game of cat and mouse which at virtually no point has resulted in an on the track reality of equal footing due to a complete absence of positive traction from active or passive ground effect features on all cars
just about every race I've ever watched has featured that year's aero controversy front and center in the commentary
F1 has been as much about engineers racing the rules as drivers racing the cars as long as I've been watching