Twin keel

[Irvingthien]

With F1 teams that are using twin keel this season(McLaren and Williams) performing so badly,I am beginning to doubt that whether the twin keel suspension is good enough.
Although it can have better air flow under the car and more downforce and reducing drag,is it stiff enough??It's also heavy.

[Guest]

Look at how McLaren & Raikkonen peformed last year with a year's old chassis... & don't forget Sauber's best peformance to date in 2001...

McLaren certainly don't have any weight issues regarding the twin-keel as opposed to perhaps Williams(who probably have a weight penalty due to the nose & not the keel). Actually Michelin tyres require 'more' weight to the front of the car so a twin-keel cannot be a disadvantage at all as far as weight distribution is concerned if you are running on Michelins.

As far as stiffness is concerned McLaren have been running struts on their race cars' keel so far to address that.

[j4kwan]

So what's the problem if isn't weight and strength? They haven't maximized rear dynamics to balance their front twin keel design?

[West]

If the nose is heavier, that means there is less ballast to put on the floor of the car, effectively raising the center of gravity. This is done with twin keels as well because teams need the extra weight to stiffen the keels. I'm not sure about weight transfer under acceleration or braking, or what the extra weight does to these.