Toto Wolff insists any view of George Russell dramatically losing form in 2023 is a “myth” as the Mercedes boss defended his driver. Russell, in his first season with Mercedes, finished above team-mate Lewis Hamilton in 2022 by 35 points – and also won the first F1 race of his career in Brazil – but has seen the roles reverse this year. The 25-year-old is currently seventh in the world championship standings, 57 points behind Hamilton, and retired late on in Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix due to a puncture caused by a tangle with Lando Norris. Yet Wolff believes talk of Russell’s under-performance in the first 13 races of this season have been exaggerated. “I’ve never bought into this thought,” Wolff said, after Sunday’s race. “When you and I are having a bad day, nobody knows, but if a driver has a bad day and he’s probably a tenth off, that makes all the difference in qualifying. “So all drivers have days that are not so good and we’ve seen these ups and downs with George but the quality of the driver I’ve never doubted a minute. “He was able to shine [in qualifying], put the car on P3, had a problem-free qualifying and no traffic so I haven’t seen any pattern change. “I’m trying to really bang it into his head that he hasn’t lost his form, that it is just the myth that he’s making up. “You don’t unlearn to driver and you don’t lose your form. You can have ups and downs like all of us have but every single weekend when things have gone against him, it was pretty clear why that was and it wasn’t the driving.” Russell has a chance to get back to points-scoring finishes this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Read More Lewis Hamilton says ‘totally wrong’ weather forecast cost Mercedes a podium spot Max Verstappen survives dramatic rain chaos to claim record-equalling victory at Dutch GP Christian Horner hails ‘untouchable’ Max Verstappen as best driver in the world Christian Horner hails ‘untouchable’ Max Verstappen as best driver in the world Lewis Hamilton says ‘totally wrong’ weather forecast cost Mercedes a podium spot Max Verstappen survives dramatic rain chaos to triumph at Dutch Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen topped a rain-interrupted final practice session for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix. The concluding hour before qualifying was red-flagged on three occasions following a series of accidents in the tricky conditions at Zandvoort. With the session a little more than 10 minutes old, Kevin Magnussen spun out in his Haas at Turn 3, before Zhou Guanyu beached his Alfa Romeo at the penultimate corner. Liam Lawson – the New Zealander making his Formula One debut as a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo who suffered a broken wrist in practice – then performed a pirouette heading into the main straight. Lawson, 21, grazed the tyre wall on the opposing side of the circuit which led to a third stoppage. When the action resumed, Verstappen, who is bidding to equal Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive victories, set an impressive pace in front of his home crowd. The Red Bull driver finished three tenths clear of George Russell, with the Mercedes driver the only man within one second of Verstappen. Sergio Perez took third spot, one place ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso with Lewis Hamilton fifth for Mercedes. Qualifying takes place at 3pm local time (2pm BST) with the unsettled weather conditions forecast to continue throughout the day. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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Lewis Hamilton was crowned Formula One world champion for the third time after winning the United States Grand Prix, on this day in 2015. Hamilton, then 30, became only the second British driver after Sir Jackie Stewart to achieve the feat after edging Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in a thrilling race. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who would have kept the title race alive with three grand prix remaining had he finished second in Austin, came third. Hamilton also became the 10th Formula One driver to win at least three world titles and went on to win his seventh in 2020 and joined Michael Schumacher at the top of the all-time list. On a wet track in Austin, Hamilton started second on the grid behind Rosberg and made an aggressive start by pushing the German wide at the first corner to take the lead. Rosberg slipped to fourth behind Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo, but – as the track dried – the Red Bull pair lacked the pace to challenge and the race developed into a battle between the two Mercedes team-mates. Hamilton trailed with eight laps to go, only to pounce on a mistake by Rosberg, who ran wide after losing traction out of a hairpin on turn 12, allowing the Briton to retake the lead and comfortably hold on for victory. It was his 10th win of the season and sealed his third drivers’ title after previous successes in 2008 and 2014. Hamilton went on to equal Schumacher’s Formula One record by winning four consecutive world titles in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Read More Mercedes ‘need to take Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification on the chin’ Max Verstappen defies Lewis Hamilton to edge United States Grand Prix victory I can do something wiser with my time – George Russell stops using social media

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In 1953, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel reopened her couture house after a 14-year hiatus at the age of 70. “Why did I return?” the legendary fashion designer later posited in an interview with Life magazine. “One night at dinner, Christian Dior said a woman could never be a great couturier.” It’s a quote that perfectly captures everything Chanel represents to this day, more than a century after she opened her first millinery shop in Paris in 1910. It also happens to be nestled in the enormous boarded timeline of the designer’s life that greets visitors to Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto, a major retrospective of the French couturière’s work, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Marking the first time that a UK exhibition has been dedicated entirely to Chanel, it charts the designer’s humble beginnings in the Loire Valley of France through to the establishment of her eponymous brand and the evolution of her creations throughout the years. Incorporating gowns, suits, jewellery, fragrances and accessories, the exhibition features more than 50 of the designer’s famous tweed suits alongside several fragile pieces usually stored deep within the belly of the V&A’s archive. “We were very aware of the classic things people know about Coco Chanel,” says curator Connie Karol Burks, referencing the designer’s famous little black dresses, the 2.55 handbag and her tweed suits. “We really wanted to spotlight much more of what she contributed to fashion, and a bit more of her approach to designing clothes, like her need for comfort, simplicity and freedom of movement.” It’s a modality easily expressed from the start of the exhibition, the entrance to which is a subtle, black, perfume-like box on the ground floor (the museum’s usual rotunda-like fashion space is currently occupied by its Diva exhibition). When downstairs, visitors may be surprised to find flowing frocks fitted with bows and pockets from as early as the 1930s. “She was an active independent woman, primarily designing for herself,” explains Karol Burks. “These were practical and elegant clothes.” Practicality, as we soon learn, was an integral part of Chanel’s oeuvre. The exhibition celebrates the designer’s penchant for streamlined garments, clothes that rejected the stiff and restrictive aesthetics that had defined women’s wear just a few years earlier. It also includes details of her deep connection to Britain, including her friendships with figures from high society. While staying at the respective homes of Winston Churchill and the Duke of Westminster, Chanel embraced British sport, which is thought to be how the corresponding aesthetics of tweed and knitted jerseys found their way into her collections. Also included here is a sketch of Chanel painted by Churchill while the two were staying at the Duke of Westminster’s Scottish retreat in 1928. “Coco is here,” he wrote to his wife at the time. “She fishes from morn till night, & in two months has killed 50 salmon.” Elsewhere, highlights include the Chanel “Ford”, the name given to the designer’s little black dress that became a global staple for women everywhere. There are evening gowns aplenty, and an optic-white room entirely dedicated to the creation of the designer’s iconic perfume Chanel No 5, as well as an oval-shaped section devoted to Chanel’s tweed suits, with two rows of them spanning the curve of the room. As has already been reported, the exhibition also doesn’t shy away from Chanel’s controversial wartime activities. It features previously unseen documents illustrating evidence of her collusion with Nazis during the Second World War, while also, confoundingly, unearthing evidence that indicates she was a member of the French resistance. “It’s such a complex thing to get your head around,” says Karol Burks. “We felt it was important to have it in the exhibition and to display those original documents. But they almost give more questions than answers.” Unlike the V&A’s Dior exhibition, which charted the brand’s existence beyond the life of its founder, the Chanel retrospective ends with the designer’s death in 1971. Given the label’s extensive history in modern culture, perhaps this makes sense: there’s only so much you can squeeze into one show. But in many ways, it is a limitation that produces a lingering sense of intrigue around the designer herself. “Despite there being over 175 biographies [of Chanel], she’s still being written about and new information is still coming to light,” Karol Burks adds. “I don’t think anyone has quite pinned down who Gabrielle Chanel was. The more you learn about her, the less you know.” ‘Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto’ runs from 16 September until 25 February at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum Read More Loved in triangles, dressed for liberation: The queer fashion secrets of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group Young people not snowflakes or wasters, says curator of rebellious fashion exhibition Pharrell Williams designed his first collection for Louis Vuitton for himself

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