Sky F1 presenter announces sudden exit ahead of Austrian Grand Prix

Popular Sky F1 presenter Rachel Brookes has announced that she has parted ways with the broadcaster.

It comes just days after she opened up about the “horrendous” online abuse she suffered following an interview with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen at last year’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

Rachel Brookes leaves Sky F1 ahead of Austrian Grand Prix

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Brookes has been a near-constant presence on Sky’s coverage of Formula 1 since the broadcaster inherited the rights from the BBC ahead of the 2012 season.

In a statement posted to social media on Wednesday, Brookes confirmed her departure from Sky.

She went on to indicate that she will remain active in Formula 1, with the presenter planning an appearance at the British Grand Prix next month.

Brookes wrote: “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!”

PlanetF1.com has contacted Sky over the nature of Brookes’ departure.

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As reported by PlanetF1.com last week, the presenter recently lifted the lid on the online abuse she suffered following an interview with Verstappen, the four-time F1 world champion, in the aftermath of last year’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen was penalised for causing a collision with George Russell in the closing stages in Barcelona, with Brookes directly asking the Red Bull driver if the move was deliberate during his post-race interview.

Brookes was abused online following the exchange, forcing her to temporarily disable comments on her Instagram account.

Appearing on the Road to Success podcast recently, she said of her experience: “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. Colleagues who do that pen admitted they wouldn’t have asked it.

“I didn’t feel particularly brave. I just came at it from an inquisitive nature.

“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.’

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

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