Former Sky Sports presenter Rachel Brookes has revealed she had a very supportive conversation with Lewis Hamilton after her decision to leave her role, but denied fan abuse had led to her quitting.Brookes had publicly announced that she had quit her role as a reporter for Sky Sports back in June, which came days before the Austrian Grand Prix.Brookes, 51, has been part of Sky Sports coverage over the past 14 years, interviewing drivers before and after races.Speaking on Essential F1, Brookes acknowledged that while it had appeared sudden it had been planned, allowing her time to say farewells to several of the drivers.Brookes highlighted a conversation with Hamilton, with the Ferrari star offering his support and giving her a hug in the paddock.’It appeared very sudden, but it wasn’t,’ Brookes said. Rachel Brookes has opened up on her decision to quit her role as a reporter on Sky Sports’ F1 coverage Brookes confirmed that her departure had been planned, despite appearing sudden, and had received well-wishes from several drivers’I had a chance to say goodbye to people in the paddock, to people I worked with, teams, drivers.’I actually had a chance to say goodbye to Lewis. I had a lovely chat with Lewis. I got some time with Lewis to have a conversation.’He was, as you would imagine, really, really lovely, very supportive. I won’t divulge everything that was said but it was caught by some photographers.’There’s a lovely photo at the end of it where he gives me a massive hug and he says “I hope I see you back in the paddock soon,” which was really lovely.’In Canada, I was finishing media in the TV interview pen and Charles Leclerc had just finished his written interviews and was just walking back out. I was stood by my camera and he just gave me the biggest hug. Didn’t say a word just gave me the biggest hug.’So obviously someone had told him and I just said “thank you” and he left.’There were a few drivers I didn’t get to say goodbye to, just as it happened. I was at home the day after it had been announced and I get these little video messages from a couple of drivers as well, who said “we’re going to miss you”. It was really, really lovely.’The paddock is a family. It’s an amazing place. I kind of didn’t think anyone would notice but the teams and the drivers, it is one big family and it is amazing. I was quite overwhelmed by the response from everybody.’ Lewis Hamilton was among the drivers to have spoken to Brookes, with the Ferrari star having been ‘very supportive’ during their conversationBrookes had confirmed her plan to remain involved in Formula One despite leaving Sky, having told fans she would keep them posted on her future ventures.Her initial announcement had come days after Brookes had revealed the ‘utterly horrendous’ abuse she received from fans following an interview with Max Verstappen last season.Brookes insisted her decision to quit Sky Sports was not linked to the abuse she had received.’It was nothing to do with comments and abuse I got online last year at all,’ Brookes said.’That was resolved very quickly, and I’ve got a great relationship with Max. So absolutely nothing to do with that.’I know a lot of people thought that, and there were some articles written. Absolutely not the case at all.’Brookes had spoken to four-time world champion Verstappen after the Spanish Grand Prix last May.Verstappen had been handed a 10-second penalty at the race having collided with Mercedes’ George Russell.After former world champion Nico Rosberg suggested on commentary that Verstappen may have deliberately collided with his rival, Brookes put it to the Dutchman on camera.Brookes told the Road to Success podcast: ‘I said to Max, “Was it deliberate?”. ‘And his response was, “Does it matter?.”She then responded: ‘Yeah, I think it does to the fans watching and to the kids’. ‘I want people to see how good you are, and you make it difficult when you do stuff like that.’Speaking in June, Brookes said had been privately praised by her peers in broadcasting for asking Verstappen the question, but had been targeted by ‘horrific’ abuse from fans. Brookes insisted her departure was not related to receiving ‘horrific abuse’ from fans after an interview with Max Verstappen last year Brookes had asked the Verstappen (right), whether he had deliberately collided with George Russell (left) at the Spanish Grand Prix’I got a lot of messages from people in broadcasting, in sports broadcasting, saying: “Well done for asking the question”,’ Brookes said.’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”.’But the stuff I got sent was horrendous, utterly horrendous. So I just closed my comments.’Verstappen, who had admitted he had made a ‘mistake’ post-race, ultimately dropped from fifth place to tenth at the Grand Prix.The Dutchman would go on to miss out on the world title by just two points to Lando Norris.