Michael Schmacher hit with grid penalty

Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher has been hit with a five-grid penalty following a collision with Bruno Senna in the Spanish Grand Prix.

The German was catching Senna down the straight on lap 13 before suddenly smashing into the rear of the Williams car which forced both drivers to retire from the race.

The former seven-time world champion Schumacher has defended himself in the aftermath of the incident.

"I just took a minute to watch the video and if you look at the overhead shot you can see that he moves right to defend his inside position, but in the braking phase he moves back left right in front of me," said Schumacher.

"Then I tried to avoid to the inside again, but too late. Then it's done because that's in the braking phase. Very frustrating. Very much annoyed about that.

"We've had already a strange manoeuvre from him in Brazil last year and a lap before he had a get together with [Romain] Grosjean, I don't know what exactly happened there. I hope they (the stewards) understand the video pictures good enough to clarify that."

Pastor Maldonado went on to win the race.