Racing
© Eterna
Rachel Brookes says she received “horrific” online abuse after asking Max Verstappen whether his collision with George Russell at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix had been deliberate.
Speaking on the Road to Success podcast, the Sky F1 reporter said the backlash quickly became deeply personal after her post-race interview in Barcelona. Brookes said some messages told her she should “never be allowed to have children because I’m a bad example,” and described the abuse as “utterly horrendous” before she shut down her comments.
The question came after Verstappen’s controversial clash with Russell, an incident that brought the Red Bull driver a 10-second penalty. Brookes said she put it to him because Nico Rosberg, the 2016 Formula 1 world champion, had implied during Sky Sports’ coverage that the move looked deliberate, and she felt that view had to be taken directly to Verstappen in the media pen.
Brookes said the exchange was brief and tense. “Was it deliberate?” she asked, with Verstappen replying: “Does it matter?” She said she answered, “Well, I think it does,” and added that she believed it mattered “to the fans watching and to the kids.” Brookes also said Verstappen later admitted he had made “a mistake” in the incident.
What made the fallout more striking, Brookes said, was the split between the public reaction and the response from inside the sport. She said people in broadcasting and sports broadcasting sent messages saying, “Well done for asking the question,” while adding that “nobody else in that pen that day asked him that question.” According to Brookes, some colleagues admitted they would have been “too scared” to raise it with Verstappen.
That contrast left Brookes’ account pointing to more than just the aftermath of one interview. The question was supported privately by peers and rooted in Sky’s own live analysis, but it was the online reaction that escalated, exposing the pressure around challenging one of Formula 1’s biggest stars after one of the season’s most contentious incidents.