Mercedes fined after pitstop blunder

Mercedes have been slapped with a fine by race stewards after Michael Schumacher's pit stop woes at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The seven-time World Champion was looking good for a podium finish after running P2 behind his team-mate Nico Rosberg during the early stages of the race. However, he was hit by bad luck on lap 13 as he was forced to retire after his front right tire was not properly attached during his one and only pit stop.

Although the German made it back onto the track he picked up the problem at Turn 3 and "already by Turn 6 there was quite a bit of smoke and damage" and he decided "it was better to stop before I did some serious damage to the car".

Stewards confirmed during the race that the incident would be investigated and they decided to hit Mercedes with a 5,000 euro fine for the unsafe release.

"The prompt action of the driver, in stopping the car as soon as the problem was noticed, is taken into account in the penalty determination," said the stewards.