Coulthard, who was fastest in practice on Friday, had to abort one run after the engine of Takuma Sato's Jordan let go in front of him, and was then thwarted by the rain late in the hour.

"I had a horrible session and believe that without problems I could have been on the third row at least," said the Scot in a press release.

"During my first run I hit traffic and lost a bit of time, my second stint was affected by yellow flags and then it started to rain during my final qualifying lap which caused me to spin at the last corner."

Nevertheless, after his impressive start at Monaco, Coulthard is confident that he can make up ground off the grid on Sunday.

"I think we are capable of making a good start, which will be important, as overtaking is very hard at this track," he added. "As always we will do our best."

In contrast to Coulthard, Raikkonen was happy with his performance after only the Williams and Ferraris got the better of him in Montreal.

"I think my grid position was the best we could have achieved today," he said. "We always knew that Canada would be difficult, as the circuit layout is not suited to our package.

"I might have been able to improve my time a little in my last run but then the rain just made it a bit too slippery. I'm hoping for a good start tomorrow and then a race finish and hopefully a reasonable result."

Team boss Ron Dennis was also optimistic for Sunday's race, predicting a possible top-three finish for McLaren in Canada.

"Apart from David's problems, qualifying turned out pretty much as we had expected," he said. "If the forecasters are right and the weather improves, a podium position is still a realistic target. As is often the case here, the use of the safety car could play a significant role."

McLaren are currently third in the constructors' standings, 30 points behind Williams.