As Daniel Ricciardo, having taken the first pole position of his F1 career, grins from ear to ear, Lewis Hamilton, shades firmly in place, stand motionless, his expression completely blank bar the slightest trace of a scowl.
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Vettel, who finished third overall past year, is level with his former Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo, with Red Bull’s teen driver Max Verstappen only 10 points behind them.
The 18-year-old Dutchman will start from the back of the grid for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix after smashing into the wall in qualifying.
“I will sleep easier tonight knowing I set out what I tried to do, getting my first pole”, Ricciardo said.
After the race, Ricciardo voiced his excitement and eagerness to do good things in the full race. “I still find it an wonderful achievement that somebody jumps into a vehicle for the first time and wins”.
Third place on the grid is occupied by the second Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton managing to overcome a weekend plagued by technical issues to start from the second row of the grid. “I’ve always enjoyed this place”.
It wasn’t all celebrations for Red Bull. Verstappen, who, aged 18, became the youngest race victor in F1 history two weeks ago, crashed heavily in the first phase of qualifying and will now start from 21st on the grid. “I couldn’t steer any more so I went straight into the barrier”, Verstappen said.
Elsewhere, Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Ferrari with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg fifth.
Vettel says he is “not really” surprised by Red Bull’s improved speed and predicts that “they will also be strong in qualifying” on Saturday.
Although Hamilton has been on the podium six times in the past eight races, Rosberg has won seven of them and is this season’s runaway leader.
“I was just accelerating and then I had losses of power all the way down the pit lane”, Hamilton said, describing what happened.
“The auto has got a good package now and it’s nice to make the most out of it”.
“We did a good lap on that and I think it set us up well for Q3 as well, knowing that I had the ultra soft and that step in grip and was able to maximise that”.
He is 43 points behind Rosberg in the championship, after problems affected his results in three of the first four races – all of which the German won – before the two crashed out together on the first lap in Spain two weeks ago.
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The last Red Bull driver to qualify first in Monaco was Australian Mark Webber in 2012. “The vehicle is really good and hopefully we can take advantage of that”. Carlos Sainz was in seventh in the Toro Rosso, with his team-mate Daniil Kvyat in ninth. Instead, the four-time F1 champion is behind his own teammate Kimi Raikkonen and looking over his shoulder at resurgent Red Bull.
