Two weeks ago in Montreal we were denied the first round of a title fight in the making but yesterday in the sweltering heat of Magny Cours, David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher finally got it on to crank up the championship temperature and reopen the dog fight begun by Coulthard in Monaco a month ago.

And whereas Coulthard was forced to throw in the towel in the Canada bout because of a 10-second stop and go penalty, yesterday he battered Schumacher into unlikely submission after 40 laps for an emphatic victory and 10 points which give him back the number one contender status he lost in Montreal.

Such was the gladiatorial atmosphere, the pair even managed to trade prize-fighterly insults midrace, Coulthard flipping his opponent a somewhat rude gesture when the German dived across his bows as the Scot attempted a bold overtaking manoeuvre.

It was like that from the start - riveting stuff. Racing drivers racing, going wheel to wheel around a circuit where overtaking should be a rarity. In short, Formula One as it should be.

Schumacher laid the first glove, diving across from pole to halt the march of Coulthard, whose better start had given him an immediate chance of stealing the lead going into turn one. It was a move that later incurred Coulthard's wrath, but before he could launch the verbal assaults, he had the small problem of Rubens Barrichello to contend with, the Brazilian sneaking in front of him after he had braked to avoid clashing with Schumacher. Always keeping pace with the leader, Coulthard bided his time, finally attacking the Ferrari number two on lap 22. Barrichello dismissed, Coulthard could finally climb into the ring with Schumacher. The first cracks in the German's guard appeared on lap 34, Coulthard diving inside in an attempt to pass. Schumacher blocked, Coulthard again having to brake hard to avoid collision. That resulted in the fist shaking and the gesture for which the Scot later apologised before launching an attack on the German's start.

"I was very angry. It was just my reaction to Michael trying to drive me off the circuit at the start. We won the race and I'm delighted with that but I don't think Michael is very sporting with the way he drives on the track.

"There are set rules and trying to drive people off the track is not within those rules. It is up to the stewards to decide if it is outside the regulations and at the moment they don't think that is. I know you cannot sanitise it so much that it takes away the element of racing. I'm not asking for that, but you have got to trust people you are racing against because you are risking your life."

By lap 40 though, Coulthard had found the knockout blow. This time the Scot feinted left, ducked right and was inside the German's line before Schumacher could close the gap. Exiting the Adelaide hairpin Coulthard was in front. The German battled gamely for another 19 laps, desperately trying to catch the McLaren, but the Ferrari's engine gave out on lap 59, Hakkinen sweeping past the stricken Schumacher to seal a McLaren one-two. "My tyres seemed to suffer a drop in performance earlier than on the other cars," Schumacher said afterwards. "I had to try and save them and David was just much faster than me on the straights and better on the brakes into the corner."

Ferrari honour was saved by Barrichello, who claimed the third podium place to keep Ferrari in the lead in the constructors' championship.

The remaining points places were divided between Jacques Villeneuve of BAR in fourth, Ralf Schumacher fifth in the Williams, s Canadian's defences despite a relentless assault over the closing laps, and Jarno Trulli sixth in a badly underperforming Jordan. Heinz Harald Frentzen followed in the second Jordan.

"This wasn't a good race for me," said the German. "I suffered the whole way through from oversteer and was just not able to run competitively."

Eddie Jordan said that the team never felt comfortable at Magny Cours. "This was a very tough race. We knew we wouldn't be competitive at this track, but our performance today shows that it is clearer than ever that we really have to fight this season to hold on to third place (in the constructors' championship)."

Eddie Irvine, starting from fifth place on the grid, slid backwards from the off. A problem during the second stop relegated him to the back of the field and he was then forced to make two further stops owing to a fuel rig malfunction in the pits. He eventually limped in 13th.

"We can't continue to qualify sixth and walk away empty-handed," said the Irishman. "It's another chance missed."

It is Coulthard though who goes to Austria in buoyant mood. He is finally punching his weight and has now found that Schumacher can be put to the canvas. It's shaping up to go the distance.