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

It is safe to say the Honda and BMW-Sauber were the disappointments of this intriguing session, with no representatives from either team in the top ten. Button was eliminated after fifteen minutes, a combination of traffic and a basic lack of speed contributing to the Englishman’s downfall. Team mate Rubens Barrichello just made it into the second session, but could progress no further.

Also out after session one were the usual pair of Super Aguri’s, Franck Montagny trying hard on home soil and Takuma Sato putting in his usual feisty effort to no avail, along with the Midland of Tiago Monteiro and Tonio Liuzzi’s Toro Rosso. The final member of the early bath club was, surprisingly, Jacques Villeneuve, the fastest man this morning.

Session two saw more scalps taken as the aforementioned Barrichello was joined by Mark Webber, the Australian bumped in the final seconds by team mate Nico Rosberg, and Nick Heidfeld who found the BMW no match for the quicker cars. Christijan Albers did well to get the Midland this far, and ran as quickly as the Honda’s, while Christian Klien, in the second Red Bull, and Scott Speed could extract no more from the Toro Rosso.

The final, truncated, shoot out session started with an amusing ‘dice’ between Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, the two passing and re-passing during the fuel burn stage, and when the drivers decided to go for times it soon became clear the thing to have today was a set of Bridgestone tyres.

Preferably, as Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa proved, a set of Bridgestone’s attached to a Ferrari; the red cars were untouchable, securing a front row with relative ease.

Fernando Alonso put up a good fight for third position despite reporting a general lack of grip and making a mistake on his final run, and will start alongside Jarno Trulli, the Italian showing the pace of the Toyota, and the Japanese tyres, to be very genuine indeed.

Ralf Schumacher put the second Toyota in fifth place, alongside the fastest of the McLarens, that of Kimi Raikkonen, and the fourth row will see Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault next to Pedro de la Rosa in the second McLaren.

David Coulthard did a fine job for tenth position, and will start ninth, with Mark Webber beside him in the Williams, as Nico Rosberg will take a ten place drop thanks to his engine change.

An interesting race in prospect, then, as the Ferrari’s take the front row, with the fast starting Renault behind them in third. The Toyota’s are a real threat here, too, and one suspects the Mclarens may well be fuelled heavier than the cars in front. Join us tomorrow to see if Renault can manage a win at Magny Cours, or whether any of the pretenders to the crown can mount a challenge.