David Coulthard, thrust into the limelight of a championship challenge via his fortunate win in Monaco two weeks ago, dismissed the psychological bruising inflicted on him by Michael Schumacher in the wake of the Scot's most recent win. "I must be a bit stupid," cracked Coulthard on Thursday afternoon, "because I haven't noticed any of it."

Intellectual giant or not, yesterday, as the drivers geared up for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix Coulthard proved that ignorance is bliss. Schumacher had been quickest through both sessions, seeming to cope with the dust and the torrid demand of the heat and the circuit Gilles Villeneuve's high speed straights and hard-breaking corners with ease.

Coulthard, though, was not hanging around to watch the German steal a march in the psychological battle that has spluttered on since Monaco. With less than two minutes of the afternoon session left, the McLaren driver blitzed through, stealing the top of the timesheet by just nine thousandths of a second. Enough though to send the message he wanted Schumacher to hear: write me off at your peril.

But Coulthard will not only be battling Schumacher this weekend. Montreal has not been a happy hunting ground for Coulthard in the past, however.

The McLaren driver's best finish here was fourth in 1996. Since then Canada has been cruel and despite claiming pole in 1998, he has failed to finish in his two most recent outings.

"I'm pretty happy with the programme we went through today," said Coulthard afterwards. "There's still a lot of work to do tomorrow but we're looking in good shape for the race."

The circuit, the first this year to see the cars run in low downforce configuration to maximise the potential of its long straights, may attempt to give Coulthard another break, but Schumacher is unlikely to be so forgiving. With Coulthard only 12 points behind, Schumacher will be looking to reestablish the commanding lead he enjoyed until the unthinkable combination of Ferrari miscalculation and mechanical mishap robbed him of victories in Spain and Monacco.

Canada offers a perfect chance. The German has won here on three occasion, the first in 1994 and then back-to-back victories in 1997 and 1998. Last year, Schumacher memorably exited the race at the last chicane sliding into the barriers, similiar to the earlier errors of two other previous champions, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

With those events fresh in his mind, Schumacher too may feel like Montreal owes him, and for Coulthard that could be the unkindest cut of all.

While Coulthard and Schumacher continue to engage in on and off track sparring, Jordan will be hoping that Canada will finally signal a turnaround in fortunes. Both Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli were ideally placed for podium finishes in Monaco only for the the dreadful luck that has dogged the team all season to bite again, with Trulli exiting with gearbox trouble and Frentzen spinning out when ideally placed to take second.

Yesterday, after a nervous start in the first session, both drivers began to find a set-up suited to the demands of the track, Trulli posting the fifth fastest time and Frentzen content with his day's work despite ending the day 15th, with both drivers reporting no problems.

"Our aim today was to concentrate on brake testing to ensure we don't have any problems like last year," admitted the German. "I also made some long runs at the end of the session working on race set-up. Overall I'm pretty pleased with how things are going," Frentzen said.

"Both drivers were taking things quite easily," said Technical Director Mike Gascoyne. "The track is quite dirty, but our cars are good here under hard braking - which is what handling Montreal is all about."

Frentzen will also be hoping to banish the memories of last year. The German was also in comfortable control of second place with just three laps to go when his brakes blew sending him sideways into the tyre wall, an accident that left him with a fractured knee. Two weeks on from that accident, though, and Frentzen was taking the laurels at Magny Cour, his first win for Jordan and the propellant for a season which ended with him third in the drivers' championship.

Jordan could do with that kind of volte face in fortunes now. With just nine points from seven races and still battling a troublesome package in the EJ10 the team badly needs a result.

Eddie Irvine will have fond memories of his podium finish here - few performances around the Ile Notre Dame circuit will have given him as much pleasure as last year's swashbuckling drive to third.

This year, Irvine is struggling with a Jaguar that refuses to be tamed. He comes to Canada in bouyant mood though having scored his and the team's first points of the season in Monaco and yesterday he took the R1 to fifth in the standings, a positive start to his Canada weekend.