SPIELBERG BEI KNITTELFELD, June 20 — Germany’s Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg will allow his patriotic fervour get the better of him tomorrow as he settles down on the eve of the Austrian Grand Prix to watch his country’s footballers play their second game of the World Cup finals.

Rosberg of Mercedes and his compatriot Nico Hulkenberg of Force India were over the moon at their country’s 4-0 annihilation of Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal team on Monday.

“I expected a strong showing but not 4-0 against Portugal! It was fantastic and so much fun to watch,” Rosberg told journalists at the Red Bull Ring.

“I’m just a little concerned that maybe we already played our best game right at the the beginning,” Hulkenberg joked.

For both drivers, even racing the next day was no reason to give up watching Germany’s face-off with Ghana on Sunday.

“Of course (I’ll watch),” said Hulkenberg, before enquiring about the kick-off time. Told the game would start at 9pm he replied relieved: “it’s doable, it’s all good.”

Rosberg noted however that he would be watching games alone rather than with his team—“or I’ll get grief if I cheer when somebody scores against them!” he said even before England lost 2-1 to Uruguay today.

“I think it can be one of the best World Cups in the history of my country,” Sergio Perez of Force India predicted on the back of Mexico’s impressive 0-0 draw with hosts Brazil on Tuesday.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo saw Australia make an early exit after two defeats but hailed the Socceroos’ performance: “They fought well... they found the back of the net, they attacked and took risks. So we have to be proud of that at least: went down swinging!”

Spanish two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso on the other hand struggled to put a positive spin on Spain’s shocking World Cup campaign.

“Sooner or later we had to lose. We’ve been winning for some years now.

“We were back home a little bit earlier than we expected... but that’s the way it is,” he said, paying tribute however to a team that won two European championships and one World Cup.

“We just need to say thanks for all that this generation gave us in the last couple of years and hopefully come back stronger in four years’ time.” — AFP