Palmer 'sad' at F1 engine penalties as Verstappen and Hamilton start from the back in Brazil

Five drivers are starting out of position at Interlagos after power unit changes at Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull-Ford and Cadillac-Ferrari: George Russell, Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Verstappen and Sergio Perez. On the FIA's provisional grid, Hamilton lines up 20th, Verstappen 21st and Perez 22nd, while Leclerc drops to 14th.

Palmer gave his verdict on F1TV during the third practice session. "I'm a little bit sad about all these grid penalties," he said reflecting on the penalties facing the five drivers.

The rules limited ICEs, turbochargers and exhausts to four per car per season. The first time a driver goes over the limit on an element, he gets a ten-place drop, and each later change of that element costs five places. Drivers who pile up more than 15 places of penalties go straight to the back. So the one session that is supposed to rank the drivers on pure speed tells only part of the story for several of the top names.

Verstappen was the clearest example of Palmer's point. He topped FP3, then finished Q1 third behind Lando Norris and Russell before climbing out of his Red Bull, knowing his penalty already put him at the back. Asked by the media whether he had enjoyed the wet session, he said: "Not really, because I'm not fighting for anything. My mind is already set on tomorrow, so it was just about doing a lap, not risking anything."

The penalties shuffled the order behind pole-sitter Norris too. Russell qualified second but starts seventh after his five-place drop for a sixth ICE, and Leclerc's ten-place penalty moved Liam Lawson up into the top three.

The way teams plan their penalties is part of the debate. There had been speculation that Ferrari would spread the engine changes for Hamilton and Leclerc over two races so they would be less likely to start next to each other. In the end, both took identical ten-place penalties in Brazil, and further power unit issues in FP3 led Ferrari to fit a complete new unit to Hamilton's car.

The stakes go beyond Sunday's grid. As GPblog reported, every driver in the fight for second in the championship has been penalised at Interlagos. Whoever recovers best from the back may gain the most, which is exactly the kind of result Palmer would rather see decided by Saturday's pace.