The Circuit Louis Rosier at Charade was first used in 1958 although there had been races in the Auvergne region as early as 1908. The track had hosted the Trophee d'Auvergne Formula 2 race in July 1964 (which had been won by Denny Hulme) and in 1965 the Automobile Club de France agreed that it should replace Reims as the venue for the French GP. Jack Brabham decided to stand down to let Hulme drive and Denny was fastest on the first day of practice. In the end, however, Jim Clark reasserted his dominance and took pole with Jackie Stewart's BRM and Lorenzo Bandini's Ferrari sharing the front row. John Surtees (Ferrari) and Dan Gurney (Brabham) were on row two with Hulme ahead of Richie Ginther's Honda and Chris Amon's Reg Parnell Racing Lotus on the third row. Graham Hill had a terrible time, with a big accident when his throttle stuck open, and he was down in 13th position on the grid.

In the race Clark took the lead at the start and led from flag to flag. During the second lap Stewart was able to get ahead of Bandini and he chased Clark for the rest of the afternoon. Gurney and Surtees soon overtook Bandini and then Surtees overtook Gurney for third place but by then Clark and Stewart were too far ahead to be caught. The order settled down with Gurney running fourth until he had to pit for a plug change on lap 14. This moved Hulme up to fourth place. The order remained unchanged for the rest of the race.