The weather at Magny-Cours was cloudy with sunny spells, as the teams took to the circuit for the opening practice for the French Grand Prix. But the drivers were allowed to use the new extreme wet weather tyres at the start of the session following early morning rain showers at the Magny-Cours circuit.

The session would see Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia set the fastest with a lap of 1m:34.146 but his time would soon be passed by McLaren's David Coulthard with a time of 1m:31.629, with Pizzonia second and Jordan's Ralph Firman third.

With fifteen minutes of the session completed only seven drivers have set lap times, with the two McLaren's at the front. Jaguar's Mark Webber would set a time good enough for sixth position. Both BMW WilliamsF1 drivers would take to the track with Ralf setting a time good enough for eighth place, and Juan Pablo tenth.

Ralf would improve to fifth while Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen would move into third. For Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello his early lap of 1m:37.926, would see him only set the sixteenth fastest time.

As the clock approached the half way point Frentzen would go fastest with a 1m:30.092 and Renault's Jarno Trulli second with a 1m:30.651. Ralf would move into third, pushing McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen down to fourth. Ralf would continue to improve with a time of 1m:30.390, whilst Mark Webber would move into fourth.

With both McLaren's out of the top five Michael Schumacher would take to the track, setting a time of 1m:32.455 to go thirteenth. Rubens would improve his time to take fifth place with a 1m:30.988. Michael would improve to sixth

But it would be Rubens Barrichello who would set the new fastest time with a lap of 1m:29. 917. But he was quickly beaten by team-mate Michael with a lap of 1m:29.547. So after the first thirty minutes the top ten was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Frentzen, Ralf, Webber, Trulli, Firman, Raikkonen, Alonso and Fisichella. For Jarno Trulli he would jump up to second with a time of 1m:29.452, just 0.462 behind Schumacher.

For Sauber's Nick Heidfeld he would set a time of the day 1m:31.130, which places him eleventh. For Renault's Fernando Alonso he would move into ninth place. Kimi Raikkonen would improve to take sixth place with 1m:30.247.

Both WilliamsF1 drivers were now in the top ten, with Ralf now in third with a 1m:29.589, whilst Juan Pablo was in tenth place. With the final fifteen minutes of the session left Jarno Trulli would move into first with a 1m:28.296, half a second faster Michael Schumacher. At this point the top ten was Trulli, Michael Schumacher, Ralf, Webber, Barrichello, Pizzonia, Coulthard, Frentzen, Raikkonen and Alonso.

Renault's Fernando Alonso would takes second with a 1m:28.481 to make it a Renault 1-2. Juan Pablo would move into the top ten with 1m:29.608, but it was to be Jaguar's Mark Webber would would go fastest with a 1m:27.712. He was joined by team-mate, Antonia Pizzonia, who was to improve his time to take fifth place

In the dying moments of the session, Ralf would secure second place with a time 0.419 slower than Webber. Michael had dropped down to sixth place, whilst team-mate Rubens Barrichello was fifteenth. But for mark Webber he would continue to improve his time setting a 1m:26.915, 1.1 seconds faster than Ralf.

For the Ferrari team the practice session would have even more serious consequences with the team been fined USD$10,000 for a pitlane accident involving the Jaguar of Mark Webber. Michael Schumacher was to collide with the Jaguar as it was travelling down the pitlane. Michael had tried to join the pitlane while Webber was passing by, their cars touching at slow speed. Webber was to lose his front wing in the accident.