Doesn't look like Palmer will take part in qualifying.

I think the idea of long life components isn't really a bad one. They used to be swapping engines & stuff 3-4 times a weekend & ending up with things that were costing them a small fortune been scrapped having done less than 20 laps which was rather stupid.

However I think they need a better way than these grid penalty's to deal with it as these 40 place penalty's do just make it all look really stupid.

I often see constructor point penalty's suggested as an alternative but I don't think that is a solution as it would just penalize some more than others depending on how many points the teams around them in the standings are. A 25 points penalty for example would be massive for Williams & drop them from 6th to 9th in the standings (Ahead of only McLaren) while the same penalty for Red Bull wouldn't change anything at all.

Engine manufacturer championship?

Not the worst idea. Instead of points, simply rank them by the number of component changes, with the lowest at the top. Make it public enough, and that should motivate certain manufacturers a little more...

He has one more year left on his contract, but if he keeps on carrying on the way he has over the radio then maybe I can seethe team say there won't be a fourth.