BMW WilliamsF1 Front Row for French GP

The final qualifying for the French Grand Prix would see Minardi's Justin Wilson forced to se the teams T car due to a broken throttle on his race car. Justin was the first driver to take to the track for his flying lap, with the weather dry.

With his smoking from the rear Wilson would complete his lap with a time of 1m:19.619. Next was BAR's Jenson Button and he would set a time of 1m:17.077, 2.5 seconds faster than the Minardi. Renault's Fernando Alonso would start his lap and was up at the first sector by 0.029. He would continue through his lap and set the fastest time with a lap time of 1m:16.087.

Next came BMW WilliamsF1 driver Ralf Schumacher, fastest in the final Saturday practice, and Ralf would straight away set a time 0.278 sec faster at the first sector. He would complete his lap and set a time of 1m:15.019 to take provisional pole by one second.

Could McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen beat this time? Even though he was quickest in the first two sectors Kimi was half a second slower only good enough fro second. Next would be Jarno Trulli and he would complete his lap in third position, with a lap time of 1m:15.967, 0.948 slower than Ralf.

After finishing second in the final practice Juan Pablo was in with a good chance of securing pole. he would set a time of 1m:15.136 to move into second, just 0.117 behind his team-mate. For McLaren's David Coulthard it was a time where he had to improve on his poor qualifying performances of late. After the second sector, David was 0.3 sec slower and he would complete his lap with a time of 1m:15.628, to be just behind Kimi Raikkonen.

Next was Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella who was to struggle been nearly a second down at the first sector. He would finish in eighth with a 1m:18.431. With the temperature increasing it was Michael Schumacher next out and he was not able to match the times of the BMW WilliamsF1 drivers but was able to snatch third position with a time of 1m:15.480. Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello who could only manage eighth, 1m:16.166 and is 1.1 seconds off the pace. Toyota's Cristiano Da Matta went ninth with a lap time of 1m:17.068. He was followed by Sauber's Heinz Harald Frentzen. He would move into eleventh with a time of 1M:17.562.

For Jaguar's Mark Webber his qualifying would see him set his personal best time with a la time of 1m:16.3 to move into ninth. For BAR's Jacques Villeneuve he again would struggle but at least he would beat his team-mate Button. Jacques would set a time of 1m:16.990, taking position ten.

The final group would now qualify with Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia taking tenth with a time of 1m:16.965. Following him was Toyota's Olivier Panis who would lose time in the final sector but would set a time good enough for tenth. Sauber's Nick Heidfeld would finish ahead of team-mate Frentzen. But he won't be too happy with fifteenth position. Probably he had a higher fuel load on board of his C22.

Jordan's Ralph Firman would finish in eighteenth, one place behind his team-mate Fisichella. For Minardi's Jos Verstappen any hope of maintaining his pole from Friday disappeared with the drier conditions. Jos's time of 1m:18.790 was only good enough for nineteenth.

If the track conditions are carried through to Sunday the chances of the WilliamsF1 team scoring another victory are looking very strong. The session was very much a Michelin dominate affair with only two Bridgestone runners making it into the top ten. This factor should also assist both ralf and Juan Pablo in tomorrow's race.