Motor racing's governing body yesterday rejected the McLaren Formula One team's appeal against the result of the recent British Grand Prix.

"The results of the 1998 British Grand Prix are therefore final," the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement, upholding Michael Schumacher's victory for Ferrari.

The German remains eight points behind McLaren's Mika Hakkinen who leads the world championship. McLaren had protested after Schumacher escaped punishment for ignoring a yellow flag during the July 12th race after mistakes were made by the Silverstone stewards.

There was no immediate comment from McLaren but a Ferrari spokesman said his team were happy with the result.

"We fully understood that McLaren believed something strange had happened in this race," he explained.