{"id":833455,"date":"2026-07-30T13:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833455\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T13:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:04:10","slug":"rachel-brookes-rejects-max-verstappen-theory-behind-sky-f1-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833455\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Brookes rejects Max Verstappen theory behind Sky F1 exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rachel Brookes silenced a rumour she saw linking Max Verstappen<\/a> and her surprise Sky F1 exit. The presenter also predicted Verstappen will join Mercedes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brookes made it clear that the abhorrent online abuse which she faced, following a Verstappen<\/a> Barcelona 2025 interview, was not why she left Sky F1. She said this situation was \u201cresolved very quickly.\u201d Brookes, who has a \u201cgreat relationship\u201d with Verstappen, believes he is looking for a Red Bull exit and tipped him to replace George Russell at Mercedes.<\/p>\n

Rachel Brookes predicts Max Verstappen to Mercedes<\/p>\n

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for news you can trust.<\/p>\n

Brookes parted ways with Sky F1 last month after more than a decade with the broadcaster. She was a key pillar of its Formula 1 coverage via Sky F1.<\/p>\n

A Sky Sports spokesperson told PlanetF1.com: \u201cRachel has moved on from the Sky Sports F1 team to take on new challenges as we evolve our coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cRachel has been an asset for the team and we wish her well in her new endeavours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brookes appeared on the Essential F1 podcast following the Hungarian Grand Prix. She took that opportunity to quash a rumour which she had seen regarding her departure from Sky.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Brookes opened up on the \u201chorrific\u201d online abuse<\/a> which she suffered after a Verstappen interview. Said interview was conducted after Verstappen\u2019s controversial Barcelona 2025 collision with Russell.<\/p>\n

Brookes was keen to stress that this played no part at all in her subsequent decision to leave Sky a year later.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nothing to do with comments and abuse I got online last year at all,\u201d said Brookes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was resolved very quickly, and I\u2019ve got a great relationship with Max. So absolutely nothing to do with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a lot of people thought that, and there were some articles written. Absolutely not the case, at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

After that positive update on the state of relations between herself and Verstappen, Brookes dropped a bombshell prediction over Verstappen\u2019s future in Formula 1.<\/p>\n

Verstappen has swerved the chance to shut down renewed \u2018silly season\u2019 speculation, all fuelled by a performance-related exit clause in his Red Bull contract.<\/p>\n

Sitting outside the top two in the championship in sixth at the summer break, it is widely reported that Verstappen could now trigger that clause, if he wishes.<\/p>\n

Verstappen to McLaren is the rumour which has gathered momentum over recent months. Brookes believes that Verstappen is looking for a Red Bull escape route. But she expects him to land at Mercedes.<\/p>\n

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal and co-owner, has stated several times that he is happy with the line-up of championship leader Kimi Antonelli and Russell.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think Max is looking for an exit,\u201d Brookes claimed, \u201cbecause I feel like yes, he\u2019s showing us all what he can do right now, and we\u2019re all impressed and we\u2019re like Max is amazing, because he is, but he wants to be winning again.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t want to have to show that he can get a car that should be 10th up to second. He wants to be winning races again. Much as it looked easy for him before, he still wants to win. He still wants a trophy at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all the people that have left there [Red Bull] now, Michael Manning the latest to go, I still feel that he\u2019s looking around, going, \u2018I\u2019ve done my time. I\u2019ve given you everything I possibly can, and now I want to go somewhere I can win again.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Max will go to Mercedes alongside Antonelli.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just in my head still. Toto missed out on him before. I think that still bugs him. I think he would feel like that was a massive coup to get him from Red Bull now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also think Max would really love to go up against Kimi Antonelli.<\/p>\n

\u201cToto said, \u2018No, he wanted too much money. He wanted three years\u2019 or whatever. I still see it happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on Max Verstappen from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n

\u2018Moron\u2019 Liam Lawson declares \u2018a very Max move\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Sorry\u2019 \u2013 Untelevised Lewis Hamilton team radio emerges after Verstappen ambush<\/a><\/p>\n

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies recently PlanetF1.com and others that \u201cMax has made clear to us that he wants to continue with the team. It\u2019s equally clear that he needs a fast car for him to be happy with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf the car is back where we want it to be, there will be no discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read next \u2013 F1 confirms Max Verstappen stance as Stefano Domenicali responds to rule backlash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel Brookes silenced a rumour she saw linking Max Verstappen and her surprise Sky F1 exit. The presenter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-833455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}