Irvine still quickest at end of day one

The McLarens seemed much quicker in the afternoon session, with Mika Hakkinen eventually moving up to 7th place after his earlier spin. Michael Schumacher had a few wild slides and had to be content with 3rd place.

At the scene of his only Grand Prix win to date, Jean Alesi was 4th for Sauber, despite spending much of the session spinning. Giancarlo Fisichella pulled a lap out of nowhere to take 5th for the Benetton team, but the star of the opening day was Ricardo Zonta. BAR's Brazilian rookie was 6th in his first outing since injuring his foot at Interlagos in March.

Williams are still in trouble, Zanardi lost the whole of the first session with a gearbox problem and both drivers seemed to have handling problems.

Several drivers explored the scenery. Olivier Panis slid off early, Rubens Barrichello hit the gravel on his final flying lap and Luca Badoer was rarely pointing in the right direction in his Minardi.

The indications are that Ferrari and McLaren are quite closely matched in Canada, but after losing time today, Mika Hakkinen is going to have to come from behind in qualifying. The battle to be 'best of the rest' behind the top four is wide open, with Benetton, Sauber, Jordan, Prost, BAR and Stewart all looking quick at various times.