Maldonado frustrated to lose "easy points" in China

The Venezuelan looked set for some points when he ran straight on at the pit entry, losing a huge chunk of time before he could resume.

He then had a spin before finally being hit hard by Jenson Button when the pair were battling. The contact put an end to his race.

"Actually we did some adjustments right before the start," said Maldonado. "I think they were quite right, even if we missed a little bit.

"The pace of the car and the balance, they were actually quite consistent. We managed to recover some places, as expected, although it was not easy at the time. Then when we arrived at the second pitstop I locked up easily, and we need to see what happened there.

"It was disappointing because we were doing a very good race, easy points for us."

Regarding his later spin he said: "I was pushing very hard and I had a bit of crosswind, and got surprised about that."

Maldonado was exonerated from any blame for the Button collision, and the Briton admitted responsibility to the stewards.

"It's hard to say because I didn't see the video of the incident, I just felt the hit from Jenson. I think he was quite close on DRS and then when you are not in the line it's very easy to lose the braking point.

"I was not expecting to have the contact. At the time we were fighting, and it's always good to fight with Jenson, and with Fernando."

Despite his frustration Pastor tried to see the positive side.

"It was the first time that we competed against the other teams, and we can see that the potential is still there, and the car is competitive, and very consistent in the race. For sure we need to find some more in qualifying but we see that in the race the pace is actually good."