Sky Sports F1 reporter Rachel Brookes announces exit after opening up about horrific abuse linked to Max Verstappen interview

Rachel Brookes has confirmed that she is leaving Sky Sports after 14 years, just days after speaking publicly about the online abuse she faced following a viral interview with Max Verstappen.

The 51-year-old Formula 1 reporter shared the news before the Austrian Grand Prix, saying she is moving on to “exciting new ventures.” While she is leaving Sky, she made it clear that she is not stepping away from Formula 1 and will be back at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix next month.

Why Rachel Brookes left Sky Sports after 14 years

Rachel Brookes announced her departure in a post on social media, thanking Formula 1 while looking ahead to the next chapter of her career. “After many years at Sky I am moving on to exciting new ventures and looking forward to what comes next. I have left the Sky F1 team but F1 still has my heart & so I’ll still be involved in it. I’ll keep you posted, in the meantime see you at Silverstone!”Brookes has been one of the familiar faces of Sky Sports’ Formula 1 coverage since joining the broadcaster 14 years ago. Over that time, she interviewed drivers before and after races and also wrote the book F1 Racing: Drive: The Secrets to Formula One Success. Although she has not revealed what her next role will be, she confirmed she will continue working around Formula 1.

Rachel Brookes opens up about Max Verstappen interview and online abuse

Earlier this week, Brookes spoke on the Road to Success podcast about the backlash she received after interviewing Max Verstappen at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix.After Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty for colliding with George Russell, Brookes asked him if the incident had been deliberate. “I said to Max, ‘Was it deliberate?’ And his response was, ‘Does it matter?’”She replied: “Yeah, I think it does to the fans watching and to the kids.

I want people to see how good you are, and you make it difficult when you do stuff like that.”Brookes said many people working in sports broadcasting privately praised her for asking the question because no one else in the media area had done so. However, she said the reaction on social media was completely different.“I got a lot of messages from people in broadcasting, in sports broadcasting, saying: ‘Well done for asking the question.’ Because nobody else in that pen that day asked him that question – and even my colleagues said they wouldn’t have asked that question, because they’d have been too scared to ask it.”She added: “But then the fans, the social media side of it, was horrendous. I got people telling me I should never be able to have children because I’m a bad example. I got the most horrific stuff you could imagine.”