McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel have been reprimanded following a pit-lane incident at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The pair touched wheels jostling for position at the pit-lane exit following a tyre change on lap five.

"He [Vettel] was pushing me a little to the right, we touched wheels, but I think it was fair," said Hamilton, who finished the race in second place.

But Red Bull's Vettel said: "I don't know why he was keen to touch me."

The German started on pole in Shanghai but lost valuable ground in an action-packed first 10 laps of the race as rain forced the teams to reconsider their tyre tactics.

Vettel and Hamilton opted to change from intermediates to slicks at the same time as the track became increasingly dry, with the McLaren driver just in front as both cars entered the pits.

Vettel left his pit box a second before Hamilton was released by McLaren, who are positioned just in front of Red Bull in the pit lane, and as the German attempted to charge ahead, Hamilton pulled alongside.

The two cars momentarily touched as Vettel moved to the right, forcing Hamilton to veer perilously close to the Williams mechanics stationed in the pit lane before retreating behind the RB6.

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"As far as I'm concerned I'm OK," said Hamilton.

"The team waited for quite some time and released me when they thought it was right.

"I got quite a lot of wheelspin and struggled to get out of the box. As I came out I noticed Sebastian was there."

However, Vettel held a different view on the incident.

"I don't really understand why he did that as I was a bit ahead of him and had the advantage anyway," said the 22-year-old.

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