Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli spent the first day of practice working on the set-up of their cars for Sunday's 69-lap race, a vital process on a circuit which calls for low downforce and makes the cars difficult to balance.

'Sixth is not bad, considering we had several small problems today,' said Jarno. 'That stops you from developing the set-up quickly but we were pretty competitive. We tested many things and we will make further changes to the car tomorrow, not in desperation, but because we think we know how to get more from it. We have been trying to figure out the set up for the race and we are pretty confident.'

Mike Gascoyne, Jordan's Technical Director, explained that both drivers felt there was more to come. 'They are not desperately happy,' said Gascoyne, 'but there is nothing seriously wrong. It is just a case of working bit by bit towards finding the right balance. Heinz-Harald did a long run at the end with a lot of fuel on board so that we could get an idea of what the race balance was like and also to check out the brakes - which are a critical factor on this track. Basically, we're in good shape so far.'

Performances at the front of the field were difficult to gauge since it was not known how much fuel the fastest cars had on board. Coulthard, who always goes well in Montreal, said he had been working bit by bit towards making his car handle just the way he wanted. Even so, Coulthard was one of several drivers to spin harmlessly as they came to terms with cars which felt nervous thanks to the lack of downforce needed for speed on the long straights.

Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were happy to be second and third fastest, Mika Hakkinen less so as he made radical changes - without much success - and set fifth fastest time, almost three quarters of a second slower than his McLaren team-mate. Johnny Herbert caused the biggest
surprise with fourth fastest time. The Jaguar driver said his car had felt nicely balanced from the start although there were doubts about the amount of fuel he was carrying.

Jordan Grand Prix