Lewis Hamilton's ten-place grid penalty will see him start from 13th on the grid for Sunday's French Grand Prix in which Kimi Raikkonen is on pole.
Hamilton could only manage third fastest overall in his McLaren and his punishment for running into the back of Raikkonen's Ferrari in the Canadian Grand Prix 13 days ago meant he was demoted to midfield at the Circuit de Nevers.
For Ferrari, it was the 200th pole of their illustrious Formula One history - the first in 1951 at Silverstone by Froilan Gonzalez - with Brazilian Felipe Massa completing an all-red front row.
Hamilton had stated in the build-up to the race he could win from such a lowly position, but in truth the odds are stacked high against him.
In F1 history, just 24 of 792 races have been won from 11th place or lower, while no-one has taken the chequered flag at Magny-Cours from a similar position since the first grand prix at this circuit in 1991.
If Hamilton needs a good omen then he only has to look at Mika Hakkinen and Raikkonen, who both finished second from 14th and 13th in 1999 and 2005 respectively - both driving McLarens.
So Hamilton will be looking just to limit the damage to his title campaign as it is hard to see past a Ferrari one-two given their dominance in qualifying.
Current world championship leader Robert Kubica is only sixth on the grid, with Fernando Alonso ahead of him in third in his Renault while Toyota's Jarno Trulli is fourth. Heikki Kovalainen took fifth in his McLaren.
FIA Formula 1 French Grand Prix
Grid positions after qualifying:
1 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1min 16.449secs
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:16.490
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:16.693
4 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:16.840
5 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:16.920
6 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:16.944
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:17.037
8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:17.233
9 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 1:17.426
10 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:17.596
11 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 1:15.770
12 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:15.786
13 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:15.816
14 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.045
15 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:16.235
16 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:16.243
17 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 1:16.306
18 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 1:16.330
19 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:16.971
20 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:17.053
* Please note that Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg received a ten-place grid penalty following the Canadian Grand Prix and therefore move down to 13th and 20th places respectively on the grid.
