Felipe Massa, who started the race from pole position, finished second in the latter Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton third in a McLaren car.

Massa controlled most of the race from the front, but Räikkönen overtook him during the second round of pit stops to take the lead.

[7] With Ferrari fastest on the third day, both of their drivers, Massa and Kimi Räikkönen were very confident heading into the French round of the season.

[13] On Saturday, Super Aguri's managing director Daniel Audetto said "We have rules – they [Spyker] can just protest.

[15] Early on Saturday, Nick Heidfeld was cleared to continue in his BMW after experiencing back pains during Friday practice.

Behind the Ferraris, Alonso was third in his McLaren, but seven tenths behind, with his teammate and World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton sixth, but lost nearly an hour of the session due to car trouble.

[17] Hamilton managed to recover from his morning trouble to post the fourth fastest time in the second Practice Session on Friday afternoon.

[19] In the final practice session on Saturday morning, Hamilton managed to beat Ferrari, with the Englishman ahead of second-placed Massa by 0.063 seconds.

Hamilton and the two Ferraris completed the top three, but Alonso was again down in eighth, having missed nearly the whole of the session with a faulty brake sensor.

[20] The Renaults sparked a return to form with Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella fourth and fifth, both ahead of rivals BMW, who were sixth and fifteenth respectively.

[21] Both Spykers and both Super Aguris were knocked out of the first phase of qualifying, along with Alexander Wurz's Williams and Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso.

For Super Aguri's Takuma Sato, it did not matter where he qualified, as he was docked ten places, due to overtaking Jenson Button under yellow flags at the last Grand Prix.

David Coulthard failed to complete a single timed lap in the second part of qualifying due to a gearbox problem, and started sixteenth.

Massa stated in the post-Qualifying press conference that "it looks like we [Ferrari] are back and fighting",[26] with Hamilton believing pole was possible had he not made a mistake at Turn 15.

They were Emmanuel Longobardi, a PR operative; the pilot Pierre Bennehard; and Simon McGill, a New Zealand national.

[41] Despite finishing seventh, Alonso was still confident about his title chances, saying that he hoped the "two points are important at the end of the season".