Length: 4.411 km
Number of Laps: 70 (308.586 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'15''377 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: F. Alonso - 1'13''698 (2004, Renault)
2005 Pole: F. Alonso - 1'14''412 (Renault)
2005 Podium: F. Alonso - K. Raikkonen - M. Schumacher

The final order will have the aerodynamicists reaching for the pencils and drawing boards, however, for having seen Jenson Button set a bench mark time for Honda in the mid-1:17’s, only to be eclipsed by Nico Rosberg in the resurgent Williams and then Jarno Trulli in the Toyota, it was in the dying minutes that the surprise pace setters emerged.

Complete with their bizarre vertical fins, the two BMW-Saubers of Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld swept all before them with a synchronised team display that put them in first and second places respectively, mere thousandths of a second separating them, and an equally minuscule gap back to third placed man Trulli.

Behind these three, and in very close attendance too, are the Williams-Cosworths of Rosberg and Mark Webber, the Australian putting in a fine late lap to leap up the order. After the disastrous showings in North America the FW28’s look much better here at Magny Cours; either Sam Michael’s promised ‘re-grouping’ has had some effect, or the chassis simply likes the billiard table characteristics of the French tarmac.

Jenson Button heads up the Honda challenge, the car much better around here than of late, with a sixth place less than half a second off the fastest time, but team mate Rubens Barrichello, very much the top man at Honda these past few races, languishes down in a worrying 20th position, doubtless still recovering from the problems that curtailed his running yesterday afternoon.

Seventh and eighth, and still around the half a second away mark, are the two McLaren-Mercedes MP4-21’s, Kimi Raikkonen pipping new team mate and 2006 debutante Pedro de la Rosa, who did a fine job on his first run in anger.

Topping off the top ten are Ralf Schumacher, just over half a second slower than team mate Trulli, and a presumably surprised David Coulthard. The Red Bull RB2 has struggled so far this weekend, so this is a promising result for the team, especially as team mate Christian Klien, another who had a troubled run yesterday, is down in 19th position.

No mention of Renault or Ferrari yet, you will surely have noticed; the French cars finished in 11th (Giancarlo Fisichella) and 16th for Fernando Alonso, but do not expect that to be a representative showing, and the Maranello machines crop up in 14th and 15th places for Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa, who notably completed, respectively, only five and eight laps each, far less than any of their competitors. Expect them, too, to upset the applecart in qualifying.

Christijan Albers showed the Midland M16’s performance to have improved with a promising 12th place, just one second away from the front runners, while team mate Tiago Monteiro had a less than happy time and finished in 17th, albeit only half a second behind Albers.

Tonio Liuzzi, 13th, did a fine job, as did team mate Scott Speed (18th) in the V10 Toro Rosso, while at the back come the two Super Aguri’s, gamely getting in amongst the action with Franck Montagny and Takuma Sato at the wheel.