Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella will start at the back of the grid in the Spanish Grand Prix today.

Sutil recorded a 1min 21.742 lap at the end of first qualifying session today, an improvement of 0.5secs over the morning practice time, to finished 19th.

Fisichella completed a best time of 1min 22.204 after getting caught in traffic on potentially his fastest lap to end at 20th.

Both Sutil and Fisichella will start the the 66 lap race with slightly unexpected company, directly behind McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, Bourdais' Toro Rosso and the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Sutil said the balance and grip of the car improved but could not generate enough speed.

"We knew that this would be a tight session and it was. The balance of my car was OK and I don't think missing the free practice session yesterday put us at a disadvantage, it was just really close out there again.

"Track conditions were quite good for us, and the grip of the car improved from this morning but we just didn't have enough speed at the end of the day to do any more. But it could be a good race with the people we have around us," Sutil said.

Fisichella rued the traffic in the last lap and said he could have improved his time without that. "I had some problems with traffic on my last lap and felt I could have improved the time. The car felt quite good though, more consistent than in the free practice this morning, and our race pace is always better than in qualifying.

"With Kovalainen and Raikkonen not far away from us I think the race will be a tough one, but let's see what we can do with the strategy and try and gain some positions," Fisichella said.

Meanwhile, championship leader Jenson Button of Britain, in a Brawn GP, grabbed pole position, clocking 1min 20.527sec in the third qualifying session ahead of German Sebastian Vettel (1min 20.660), in a Red Bull.

Button's Brawn team-mate veteran Brazilian Rubens Barrichello (1min 20.762) will start third at the grid today.