Last gasp Jenson Button grabs pole in Spain

Jenson Button will start from pole position in today's Spanish Grand Prix after the most last minute of last minute charges saw him post the fastest lap of the session, which he began with two seconds remaining before the chequered flag came out.

The Englishman's dash for the line pushed Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel into second in front of Button's Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello.

There was finally some good news for Ferrari as Felipe Massa managed to secure fourth place, but Kimi Raikkonen's tactical error saw him finish in 16th.

After showing signs of improvement in Bahrain, McLaren will be disappointed that Lewis Hamilton could only manage 14th on the grid, and the world champion seemed less than impressed with McClaren's upgrade package for the European leg of the Grand Prix season.

Although Button grabbed pole Vettel was running with more fuel, meaning that he was effectively the fastest man in the field. However, Button, who leads the championship by 12 points will be confident of extending his lead this afternoon. The past eight Circuit de Catalunya pole-sitters have gone on to win the race.

Top 10 on the grid:
1 Jenson Button, Brawn GP
2 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
3 Rubens Barrichello, Brawn
4 Felipe Massa, Ferrari
5 Mark Webber, Red Bull
6 Timo Glock, Toyota
7 Jarno Trulli, Toyota
8 Fernando Alonso, Renault
9 Nico Rosberg, Williams
10 Robert Kubica, BMW

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:Maurice Hamilton in the Observer: "Even in a sport defined by the blink of an eye, Jenson Button cut things perilously close when he started his final qualifying lap just two seconds before the chequered flag appeared. When he returned 1m 20.527s later, the times were so tight that the Brawn-Mercedes driver was not sure he had won pole position for today's Spanish Grand Prix until he received radio confirmation from his engineer, Andrew Shovlin." ·