George Russell's girlfriend Carmen Mundt shares image of the Mercedes driver's superfan in Australia

George Russell and his girlfriend Carmen Mundt arrived at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, walking hand in hand. Moreover, Carmen gave a special shoutout to a superfan of Russell's on social media, who claimed that she traveled 15,500 km to watch the race in Albert Park.

The 2025 F1 season kicked off with the Australian Grand Prix this year as fans thronged the Albert Park Circuit on March 15 to witness the qualifying session. Russell, Mercedes' senior driver, arrived at the paddock with his girlfriend, Carmen Mundt. The couple walked hand in hand amid a sea of fans cheering for the British driver.

Carmen Mundt spotted a superfan of her boyfriend's in the crowd, who was holding a placard that mentioned she had traveled 15,500 km from Chicago City in the USA to Melbourne just to support Russell. She took a picture of the fan and shared it on her Instagram story.

Carmen Mundt's Instagram story [Image Source: @carmenmmundt/Instagram]

George Russell and Carmen Mundt have been dating for five years now. The couple is quite popular amongst the fans, and the duo is spotted together often during race weekends.

Meanwhile, Russell, the newly minted senior Mercedes driver, had a successful qualifying session at Albert Park Circuit on March 15. He qualified P4, five tenths slower than pole sitter Lando Norris. He began the session with a 1:15.971 lap time in Q1. By Q3, he improved his pace to 1:15.546, which was good enough to land him a second-row finish.

However, his rookie teammate, Kimi Antonelli, had a nightmarish start to his F1 career. He hit the gravel during Q1, and the debris damaged his floor, which ruined his final lap. Antonelli unfortunately finished 16th and got eliminated from the Q1 session, resulting in an early setback for Mercedes.

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McLaren out of reach for Mercedes, claims George Russell

McLaren's Lando Norris [L] with Mercedes' George Russell [R] (Image Source: Getty)

Reigning constructors champions, McLaren dominated the qualifying session of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secure a front-row finish, qualifying P1 and P2, respectively.

Moreover, McLaren's pace has got George Russell to believe that they are out of reach for Mercedes. Talking to media after the qualifying session, Russell said (via Crashnet):

“I was really pleased with today's running; every lap we did was competitive, always in the top four positions. The gap to McLaren is large. I think we know at the moment they are out of reach."

Mercedes, however, looked competitive during the qualifying session in Australia as well. George Russell had consistent pace but couldn't go quicker than McLaren. Kimi Antonelli also delivered in terms of lap times, but one mistake in Q1 cost him big time.