Qualifying for the 2005 Chinese Grand prix would see Takuma Sato the first driver out followed by Juan Pablo Montoya, Jarno Trulli, Antonio Pizzonia, and Christijan Albers. Takuma would start his lap of the 5.451km Shanghai circuit. A time of 25.7 in the first sector followed by 29.5 in the second. He would lock up at Turn three. He would complete his lap with a time of 1m:37.083. Looking at the practice times Takuma's time was very slow.

Now it was Montoya's turn. His first sector time was four tenths up on Sato's time. By the end of the second sector Juan Pablo was 1.3 seconds ahead. He would finish with a time of 1m:35.188 to go fastest by 1.895 seconds. Juan Pablo was to have a major brake lockup at the hairpin which would have cost him time. The first of the Toyota's was next out. Trulli would start his lap and was slower than Juan Pablo finishing with a time of 1m:36.044 to move into second.

For BMW WilliamsF1 driver Antonio Pizzonia he would be next out and his lap would see him 0.3 down after the first sector. He would lose another 0.5 in the second and would finish with a time of 1m:36.445 to move into third. He was 1.2 seconds slower than Montoya. The final driver in the first group was Albers. The Minardi driver would start his lap and was a massive 1.1 seconds off the pace after sector one after making a mistake at the first corner. The rest of his lap was no better as he struggled finishing with a time of 1m:39.105, 3.917 seconds slower than Montoya.

The next group of drivers was Narian Karthikeyan followed by Robert Doornbos, Tiago Monteiro, Jacques Villeneuve and Rubens Barrichello. Karthikeyan would start his lap and was 0.4 down after sector one. He would lose another 0.6 in the second. He would complete his lap with a time of 1m:36.707 moving into fourth. His lap was impressive as it put him ahead of Sato. Next was Doornbos. He was 0.7 down after sector one This was faster than team-mate Albers. He would finish his lap with a time of 1m:39.460 after losing a lot of time in the final sector to finish behind Albers in seventh.

The second Jordan of Tiago Monteiro was next out and he would struggle in the opening corners seeing him 0.8 down after sector one. He would be slower than his team-mate in the final two sectors to finish with a time of 1m:39.233, behind his team-mate Karthikeyan. Villeneuve was the next driver to attempt a qualifying lap. His lap would see him 1.2 seconds off the pace after sector two. He would finish with a time of 1m:36.788 to move into fifth.

The final driver of this group Rubens Barrichello would start his last
qualifying lap for the Ferrari team. He would be just 0.3 down after sector one. He would lose a further two tenths in the second. With the fastest final sector time, 41.1, Rubens would move into second with a time of 1m:35.610 to be 0.422 seconds behind Montoya. The order was Montoya followed by Barrichello, Trulli, Pizzonia, Karthikeyan, Villeneuve, Sato, Albers, Monteiro and Doornbos.

The next group would see Massa out first followed by Christian Klein, Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher, and David Coulthard. Massa would start his lap and was half a second down after the first two sectors. He would lose a few tenths in the final sector to finish with a time of 1m:35.898 to be in third. He was well ahead of team-mate Villeneuve.

The first of the Red Bull's would start its lap, that of Christian Klein. His lap would see him 0.8 down after sector two. He would finish his lap with a time of 1m:36.472 to move into sixth just behind Pizzonia. The second Toyota of Ralf Schumacher would start its lap. Ralf would be just 0.1 down after sector one. He would continue his pace in the second to finish with a time of
1m:35.723 to move into third, two places ahead of team-mate Trulli.

The second Ferrari of Michael Schumacher was next out and his lap would start with a mistake a Turn One when he was to run wide seeing him 0.2 down on Montoya after sector one. He would be 0.3 down after sector two. His final sector would see him set a new fastest time, 40.9, which would see him move into second with a time of 1m:35.301 to be just 0.113 behind Montoya. Both of the Ferrari's were strong in the final sector.

The last driver of this group, David Coulthard, would start his lap. He would be 0.2 down after sector one. He would lose another 0.2 in the second. He would finish with a time of 1m:35.428 to move into third splitting the two Ferrari's. The final group of drivers would be lead out by Button followed by Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Kimi Raikkonen.

Jenson would start his lap and was fastest in the opening sector, 25.1. He would go even faster in the second setting another fastest sector time, 28.5. He would finish his lap with a time of 1m:34.801 to take provisional pole. With team-mate Pizzonia in ninth Mark Webber would start his lap. He was close to Button's time in the first sector but would make a small mistake at Turn six. His second sector time would see him lose further time. He would finish with a disappointing time of 1m:35.739 to move into seventh.

The first of the Renault's, that of Alonso, was next out and the Spaniard would be 0.4 up on Button's time after sector two. He would finish with a time of 1m:34.080 to be ahead of Button by a massive 0.721 seconds. A very impressive lap from the new world champion. Fisichella would start his lap and he would be close to Alonso in the first sector. He would set a new fastest sector sector time, 28.4, but would finish his lap with a time of 1m:34.401 to move into second, 0.321 down on his team-mates time.

The final driver was McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn would start his lap and was two tenths down after sector one. He would run wide at Turn Two. He would lose further time at the final hairpin to finish with a time of 1m:34.488 to move into third place. The session would end with Renault dominating proceedings taking the top two grid positions. For the BMW WillliamsF1 team Mark and Antonio would finish in tenth and thirteenth grid positions. Mark's qualifying could have been better ad it not been for several mistakes by the Australian.