Schumacher refuses to accept title's his

The German needed a victory to equal Alain Prost's 51 race win record - and set up the chance of a new record in front of his home fans at the German Grand Prix in a fortnight's time. But he was no match for Mika Hakkinen at Silverstone as the Finn stormed to his first victory in nearly a year, finishing the race 33 seconds clear of Schumacher.

However, title rival David Coulthard clashed with Jarno Trulli on the first bend of a race the Scot desperately needed to win - and retired three laps later with a broken suspension. That means the German now has a massive 37 point lead with just six races remaining.

Even so, he insisted the job is not yet done.

"The championship is not over until it is over," said Schumacher. "It has worked in my favour today, but I said it was 70 points before and it's now 60 points. I have 37 points in my pocket with six races to go. That is nice to know. I'd rather sit here and say it is over, but it is not.

"We were simply not fast enough this weekend," added the Ferrari star. "There was no particular reason. We simply did not get it together.

"My car wasn't really the way I like to have it, and into Copse I had a lot of problems. The car got sideways a lot of times and that happened when Mika got me. When he was beside me there was nothing I could do about it."

Schumacher now has 84 points in the drivers' championship, while Coulthard is on 47.