Sky F1 Host Rachel Brookes Opens Up About 'Horrific' Abuse Following Max Verstappen Interview in Spain

SKY SPORTS presenter Rachel Brookes has revealed she received “horrific” abuse from trolls after her interview with Max Verstappen last year.

Brookes, 51, is one of the broadcaster’s main reporters and spoke to after he at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix.

Sky Sports host Rachel Brooke received ‘horrific’ abuse after interviewing Max Verstappen last year Credit: Getty The Dutchman collided with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix and was given a 10-second penalty Credit: Sky Sports

The Dutchman was handed a 10-second penalty over the incident and admitted he “made a mistake”.

Brookes asked Verstappen if he made contact with Russell deliberately after former world champion suggested it might have been on commentary.

Verstappen attempted to dodge the question as he replied: “Does it matter?”. However, he later .

And Brookes has now opened up on some “horrendous” abuse she received after that interview.

She told the Road to Success podcast: “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.

“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.

“And this is from a lot of these profiles with dads with kids with daughters and things like that, where you just look at it and think: ‘Take a step back. It’s a Formula 1 race. It’s sport’.

Brookes was sent ‘horrendous’ messages after asking Verstappen if it was deliberate Credit: Getty

“But the stuff I got sent was horrendous, utterly horrendous. So I just closed my comments.”

Brookes defended her question to Verstappen and insisted it was right to put pressure on the four-time world champion after feeling “frustrated” by his antics.

She added: “There is no one better than a Formula 1 world champion [Rosberg] to tell me what could have happened in that moment.

“I’m not making a summary myself here, I’m literally relaying what our world champion on the team thinks.

“The reason I said that was because in Imola, just before, he had pulled off that incredible move at the start of the race.

“He had our commentators and our pundits open-mouthed at how fantastic his move was at the start of the race.

“That is what Max does, and Max can do. So to me, when he did what he did with George, it took some of the shine off, which is what I said to him.

“And I hate that, because he’s incredible, and he has those little moments that give people cause to criticise him, and it really frustrated me as a fan that had happened.”

Verstappen has had a difficult time in the sport since losing to in the race for last season’s title.

He has repeatedly hinted that he could one day leave F1 after following a number of rule changes.

Verstappen is currently seventh in the F1 drivers’ standings after securing just one podium this season.