Mercedes's Michael Schumacher has said that his chances of winning a point at the Indian Grand Prix were effectively over from the start.

The German suffered a right-rear puncture after contact with Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso at the first corner in the first lap, and retired five laps before the end of the race with a gearbox problem.

"That was a pretty unsatisfactory race today," Schumacher is quoted as saying by the BBC.

"It was effectively over just after the start; I lost so much time getting back to the pits with the puncture that any hope of scoring points was gone.

"The pace was pretty good but I was too far behind to make up more than a few positions. In the end, we had to retire the car for technical reasons."

Schumacher is currently 14th in the Drivers' Championship with 43 points.