{"id":189043,"date":"2025-06-16T13:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T13:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/189043\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T13:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T13:09:09","slug":"sky-f1-pundit-takes-step-back-after-max-verstappen-interview-triggers-vile-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/189043\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky F1 pundit takes step back after Max Verstappen interview triggers ‘vile abuse’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sky F1 presenter Rachel Brookes has announced that she has disabled comments on her social media platforms after receiving \u201cenormous amounts of vile abuse.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It comes after tetchy interviews with Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver and reigning four-time World Champion, and Ferrari\u2019s Lewis Hamilton over recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Sky F1 presenter Rachel Brookes disables comments over \u2018vile abuse\u2019<\/p>\n

Brookes has been a member of the Sky F1 team since the 2012 season, often interviewing drivers in the TV pen in the paddock after qualifying and the race, as well as fulfilling presenting and commentary roles.<\/p>\n

The presenter was involved in a tense interview with Verstappen in the aftermath of the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this month, when the Red Bull driver was involved in an ugly collision with George Russell\u2019s Mercedes in the closing laps.<\/p>\n

Verstappen, who was given a 10-second penalty and three penalty points for the incident with Russell, appeared to take issue with Brookes\u2019 line of questioning during the interview.<\/p>\n

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Put to him at one stage that his conduct in wheel-to-wheel battle could \u201ctake some shine\u201d off his other abilities, Verstappen told Brookes: \u201cWell, that\u2019s your opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brookes\u2019 exchange with Verstappen came seven days after Hamilton was noticeably unforthcoming in a Sky F1 interview after a challenging race in Monaco.<\/p>\n

It later emerged that Hamilton had apologised to Brookes off camera<\/a> following the interview, admitting that he was \u201cjust so down\u201d after the race.<\/p>\n

Writing on social media over the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, Brookes revealed that she has turned off comments on both Instagram and X (Twitter) after receiving a barrage of abuse over recent weeks.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI will be posting on here as usual but comments\/tags\/mentions on here and on X have been disabled for the foreseeable future due to the enormous amounts of vile abuse I was sent after the Spanish GP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI may switch them back on at a later date but for now they will stay off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brookes\u2019 step back comes after Lee McKenzie, the long-serving F1 reporter, lifted the lid on the \u201chorrific\u201d and \u201cvile\u201d comments<\/a> she received after returning to air following a recent operation at the Spanish Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

She wrote on social media:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about whether I should post this but I will as it\u2019s not just about me, it\u2019s for all women and men too.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast month I went into hospital for an operation and I\u2019ve been struggling with some health issues for a while now.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you see on here I\u2019m a private person and I post about my work, not too much about life outside of work. I don\u2019t need or want attention or validation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the comments about my appearance and weight at the Spanish Grand Prix have been horrific.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had to turn off comments on my social media. It\u2019s worth saying they came from women and men alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t like what someone wears or looks like on television, feel free to think about it but why send it to them?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy contact someone to be deliberately rude?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a journalist and I\u2019m good at my job and I\u2019m furious that this affects me.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it does and there will be people out there getting similar abuse that are not as strong as me. Don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news is that a larger operation that I thought I was going to get isn\u2019t needed at the moment and things can be treated with medication.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people have this. It\u2019s not about being unwell. It\u2019s about the vile comments from women and men commenting on my appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy health is improving and I\u2019m back at the gym. For me. Not for anyone else. Think before you write to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Damon Hill, the 1996 World Champion and former Sky F1 pundit, was among those to leap to McKenzie\u2019s defence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hill, who now works for BBC Radio 5 Live, wrote in a social media post:\u00a0\u201cRead Lee\u2019s post.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those who posted abusive messages, go and get some help.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are mentally unwell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read next:\u00a0Aston Martin shut down Alonso rumours after Alpine \u2018lunch\u2019 visit<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sky F1 presenter Rachel Brookes has announced that she has disabled comments on her social media platforms after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,225,1073,12,226,12591,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-189043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-home-page","12":"tag-max-verstappen","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-red-bull","15":"tag-sky-f1","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114693207711462515","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}