The qualifying session for the 2005 French Grand Prix showed that the BMW WilliamsF1 team had done little to improve the pace of the FW27 with both Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld finishing outside the top ten. Mark was in thirteenth and Nick one place behind. At least both drivers were able to achieve similar performances from the FW27, even if their times were 1.5 seconds off the pole position time. It was even more disappointing taken into consideration the fact that the team had made major modifications to the FW27 to improve its pace.

Qualifying for the 2005 French Grand Prix would see Toyota's Ralf Schumacher the first driver to take to the track. Ralf did not run in the United States Grand Prix resulting in his early qualifying run. Ralf would finish his lap with a time of 1m:15.771. The other drivers in the first group were Coulthard, Nick Heidfeld, Christian Klien and Jacques Villeneuve.

Coulthard's lap would see him faster in the second sector finish some 0.663 behind Ralf in second, with a time of 1m:16.434. Nick would start his lap and was fastest in the second sector. Despite this Nick would be 0.436 down on Ralf's time but was in second place ahead of Coulthard. Klein was next. The Red Bull driver would be 0.4 down after just the first sector. He would be quicker than Ralf in the second but would finish wit a time of 1m:16.547 to move into fourth despite some very aggressive driving attacking the kerbs.

Villeneuve would start his flying lap and the Sauber driver was fastest in the second sector. he would finish his lap with a time of 1mm:15.699 to move into the top spot by just 0.072 seconds from Ralf. The next group was Montoya, Massa, Webber, Sato, and Alonso.

Montoya would start his lap and would set a time of 24.4 in the opening sector. He was quickest in the second, and would cross the line with a time of 1m:15.406 to go fastest despite having understeer in the 180 corner. McLaren have been very strong this weekend. Next was Sauber's Felipe Massa. The Brazilian was slower than Villeneuve in the second sector but would finish the lap ahead of his team-mate in second with a time of 1m:15.566.

Now it was the turn of Mark Webber. He would start his lap and was down on Montoya's time after sector one. he would lose more time in the middle sector and would cross the line with a time of 1m:15.885 to be 0.4 ahead of Nick. He was in fifth but his time would see him drop down the order as other drivers completed their lap. Sato was out and he was on a quick lap. The BAR driver was fastest by a considerable margin finishing his lap with a time of 1m:14.655 to be 0.751 ahead of Montoya. But there is always the question as to what fuel he was running with.

Now it was Alonso's turn. The Spaniard was quickest in the second sector and with another quickest sector in the final one would jump into provisional pole with a time of 1m:14.412. It would be interesting to see how Renault team-mate Fisichella runs as he is first out in the next group, which also included Button, Raikkonen, Trulli, and Friesacher. The final group would be made up of Albers, Karthikeyan, Monteiro, Barrichello and Michael Schumacher.

Fisichella would start his lap and his first sector would be the best so far. But he was down on Alonso after sector two. The Italian would finish his lap with a time of 1m:14.887 after losing time in the final sector. Now it was Jenson Button's time to qualify. Could he get ahead of Sato? Button would be down on his team-mate after sector one. He would lose more time and would finish his lap with a time of 1m:15.051 to move into fourth.

Next was Raikkonen. Kimi would be down on the leaders after the first sector, fastest in the second sector, and would finish his lap with a time of 1m:14.559 to be in second. But he will lose ten places on the grid for his engine change. Trulli was next and the Toyota driver was 0.1 down after sector one. He would cross the line ahead of Kimi but just 0.109 behind Alonso. Now we had the first of the Bridgestone runners, Patrick Friesacher. He would be a second down after the first sector. He would finish in fifteen 1.4 seconds slower than the drier in front Klein.

Albers was next out and he would finish with a time of 1m:18.335 to be behind his team-mate and last. The first of the Jordan's was next with Karthikeyan struggling with his car throughout his lap. He would finish with a time of 1m:17.857 to be in fifteenth. Team-mate Monteiro was next and he would finish with a time of 1m:18.047 to be behind his team-mate and in seventeenth.

Now it was just the two Ferrari's left to run. Barrichello was first and the Brazilian was fastest in sector one. Still quickest after sector two and would cross the line with a time of 1m:14.832 after a very poor final sector. He was in fifth. Michael Schumacher would start his lap and he was ahead of Alonso after sector one but would be slower in the second. He would finish with a time of 1m:14.572 to be in fourth.