The opening qualifying session would be run in the reverse order of the Brazilian GP results, with the start of the session the track was wet but the sky was clear. This would mean that the session could be a bit of a lottery. Christian
Albers would start his lap and would have an eventful lap getting crossed up on several occasions. Plumes of spray followed his Minardi around the track as he completed his lap with a 1m:49.230. Team-mate Friesacher was next out and he would also struggle. He would be seventh tenths slower after sector two. He would finish with a 1m:50.864 to be second.

Jordan's Karthikeyan was next out. He would be two seconds faster after sector one, another second after sector two. He would complete his lap with a 1m:44.357 to go fastest. Team-mate Monteiro was out on his lap running wide in Turn 3. Button was next out as Tiago continued his lap. Sector two and he was two seconds down. Losing time in turn 12 he would cross the line with a 1m:46.846. Button would start his lap and would be two tenths faster in the first sector, another 1.2 seconds after the second.

He would finish with a 1m:41.512 to be 2.8 seconds faster than Karthikeyan and fastest. Jenson's lap was tidy but will it be fast enough. The next group of drivers was Heidfeld followed by Webber, Klien, Trulli and Coulthard.

With the sky blue but the track still wet Nick would start his lap and would get very crossed up through turn two. At turn five he would run wide due to water on the track. But after sector one he was ahead of Button. At Turn 12 he would go off the track and onto the grass and kept it going and finished his lap with a 1m:39.717. The circuit was drying giving those running late a major advantage. Mark was next and he was up by one second over Heidfeld. His lap was tidy and he was 1.4 seconds ahead after sector two.

Mark would come around the final turns and cross the line with a 1m:36.717 to be ahead of his team-mate. Team-mate Pizzonia said it was a very good lap from mark but that with the track improving speeds will improve. The track temperature was rapidly climbing as Red Bull's Christian Klein made his run. He was slower than Webber after sector two. He would finish with a 1m:37.486 to be second. Toyota's Jarno Trulli was next. Jarno would finish his lap with a 1m:35.270, almost 1.5 seconds ahead of Mark.

Mark would say that he was happy with his lap and that the team had done a good job. Coulthard was next out and was slower at the first sector. He would finish with a 1m:38.320. This would complete the next group of five drivers. The order was Trulli leading from Webber, Heidfeld, Klien and Coulthard. But the
weather still threatening Villeneuve would come out on slicks. But it would all go wrong at Turn 5 when he would spin but would keep the car away from the wall and keep going. This was on his out lap.

Now he would start his qualifying lap and he would get through turn five but was down on Trulli's time after the first sector. He was 1.4 seconds after sector two. He would make a mistake a Turn 15 and 36.984 to be third. Nick explained he went too quick at Turn 12 and lost time. He added "It is going to be very difficult for us tomorrow". Fisichella was out on dry tyres and he was up by 0.5 seconds after sector two. He would complete his lap with a 1m:33.171 to go fastest. But the rain would start to fall and those yet to run would be at a major disadvantage. Massa was next out and would crawl around very slowly on his dry tyres. All those yet to come would quickly change their tyres to full wets.

Massa would continue around but his time would be the slowest. He would get passed by Michael Schumacher who had come out on full wets. Michael would start his lap and was 8.9 seconds slower at the first sector.

He would nearly spin his car at Turn 8 and would be 17 seconds slower at sector two. While this was happening Sato would crash his BAR. Michael would finish with a time some 24 seconds slower than Fisichella with a 1m:57.931. Sato had crashed at Turn 8 taking off the front wing and damaging the front suspension. The red flag would come out bringing the session to a stop as the BAR was removed from the track.

Ralf Schumacher was next out and the track was again very wet. Massa would say that qualifying was a lottery and he was just unlucky. With the wet conditions there would be no way that Ralf would beat Fisichella's time. He would start his lap and after sector one was 6.9 seconds slower than Giancarlo. Things did not get any better and would lose further time. A 1m:51.495 would see him in thirteenth. Alonso was next out and like Ralf he would struggle in the conditions. Alonso would finish with a 1m:47.708 to be eleventh.

The final three would be Barrichello, Raikkonen, and Montoya. Rubens was 4.4 seconds slower after sector one. he would finish with a 1m:45.481. It was somewhat of an anticlimax with the final drivers having no hope of going faster than the lead times. Raikkonen was 4.5 seconds slower after sector one. Kimi would have a tidy lap but was so much slower in his attempt with a 1m:44.947. Last car was Montoya but he would get out of shape in Turn 1 but would pull it all together but would lose more time at Turn 4. He was 6.8 seconds slower after sector two. He would finish with a 1m:45.325 to be slower than Kimi.

The Renault team would congratulate Fisichella while Ron Dennis and the other teams could feel that they were all victims of the weather. But it would all happening again tomorrow morning. Mark and Nick were in third and seventh but were a considerable margin off the pace but with the conditions their times were not a true indication of how they will perform come the race.