Hakkinen's Austrian win under threat

FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer has confiscated the car's computerised brain after an official seal was found to be broken.

And the results of the race will remain provisional pending "further investigations".

The world champion's car passed a battery of other tests.

The box - effectively the computerised brain which controls the car's crucial electronic functions - has two seals.

Officials want to confirm that the seal has simply broken in the savage beating it had taken in the race and that the contents and electronic programming had not been tampered with.

The complex electronic process could take hours or days, but is likely to be resolved before the next race in Germany in a fortnight's time.

Hakkinen had won the race at a canter with teammate David Coulthard second. Championship leader Michael Schumacher was rammed out on the first corner of the race.

If Hakkinen is excluded, Coulthard will be declared the winner and move just two points behind Schumacher in the championship.

Both Ferrari's were excluded from last year's penultimate round of the world championship in Malaysia when the car failed post-race checks, but were later re-instated on appeal.

A McLaren spokeswoman speaking shortly after the FIA statement said she could not comment.