A member of Pierre Gasly's pit crew was knocked down during the first round of stops at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. The mechanic was ultimately okay, but the incident cost the Alpine star a lot of time.

After a frustrating opening stint in which he was shoved off the track by Williams racer Alex Albon, Gasly came in for his first stop on lap 12. However, this stop did not go to plan.

Instead, after pulling into his box, a commotion began. A loose rear wheel hit one of the mechanics, knocking him down to the floor. All the while, Gasly was losing time relative to the rest of the field.

Fortunately, the mechanic eventually emerged from the incident seemingly unharmed, but Gasly's race was severely compromised with the French racer stationary for nearly 20 seconds in his pit box.

Off the back of the dangerous incident, Alpine were placed under investigation by the stewards. The Enstone-based outfit will be probed after the session for releasing the car in an unsafe condition.

This was just the latest mishap in a tumultuous weekend for the No.10 crew. Gasly was struggling from the offset in Shanghai and was furious after the weekend's only practice session ended without progress for Alpine.

After the chequered flag on Friday, he raged over the radio: “Guys, this is not acceptable. I haven’t learned anything! Absolutely nothing!”

Alpine weren't the only backmarker team struggling in Shanghai. Sauber showed plenty of promise in both the sprint race and in qualifying, but this potential evaporated on race day.

Home hero Zhou Guanyu was condemned to running around at the back of the field following a frustrating Q1 exit, while Valtteri Bottas was running in the points before an engine failure brought out the virtual safety car on lap 21.

Following another worrying performance, both teams are pointless in the Constructors' Championship, while Williams are also yet to open their account.