Formula 1 (“F1”) has been rapidly growing, with each season bringing new rules and upgrades aimed at enhancing fan engagement, improving driver safety, and fueling the sport’s global momentum. New Grand Prix events are being added across the United States, fans can watch live onboard cameras of their favorite drivers, and F1 drivers are frequent guests on mainstream American media. On the more technical side, safety standards continue to evolve, and the introduction of biometric gloves and other regulations marks the next frontier of racing technology.
These racecars no longer just capture basic telemetry but are equipped with hundreds of sensors that can generate a million data points per second, delivering insight into every single aspect of a driver’s performance. These sensors monitor engine temperature, wing aerodynamics, suspension, and G-force acting on the driver’s body. That data collection extends beyond the car as well. Biometric tools like FIA-mandated gloves can transmit a driver’s heart rate, oxygen levels, and even consciousness data to medical teams. These tools have revolutionized driver safety, but they also raise new legal and ethical questions: who owns this data, how should it be used, and how should it be protected?
More basic car telemetry likely belongs to the teams; however, drivers’ biometric information occupies a far more personal—and legally sensitive—category. Under frameworks like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act, biometric data is classified as “special category” information, meaning it relates directly to an individual’s physical identity and health. F1 is a sport that spans worldwide, and varying regulations demand different protections. There is tension between the needs of the driver, whose body generates the data; the team, which relies on it for performance and safety; and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which regulates how and when it can be collected. While this issue has not yet come to a head, conflict over data ownership seems inevitable.
Teams have every incentive to keep their drivers’ biometric data as private as possible. In a sport where a thousandth of a second could determine victory, even marginal physiological insights could change the Constructors’ Championship, whose final rankings dictate how hundreds of millions in prize money is distributed among teams. Drivers would likely agree as it is their privacy that is at stake. However, the FIA may favor greater access because biometric data sharing could improve their safety protocols and prevent medical emergencies on the track. Races like the Singapore Grand Prix, where drivers experienced extreme heat and dehydration, illustrate how biometric data could have better informed the FIA’s decision making. Formula 1 is an inherently dangerous sport and a sport-wide broader sharing of biometric data between teams could provide life-saving indicators of heat exhaustion, cardiac distress, or other dangers.
Fans would likely jump at the chance to have access to this kind of information. They would be eager to watch a driver’s heart rate spike during a dicey overtake or their G-forces peak on a straightaway. And for a commercial powerhouse like Formula 1, the potential to monetize that information and appeal to their international fan base would be difficult to ignore. Streaming platforms such as Sky Sports or F1 TV could easily market premium subscriptions offering exclusive access to biometric insights.
The demand for driver biometric information is already clear. Reports have surfaced of Charles Leclerc’s biometric data being illicitly replicated for research abroad, and the FIA has already granted permission for biometric data to be displayed during broadcasts. As biometric monitoring becomes more integrated into the sport, Formula 1 will need to decide whether this data remains a tool strictly used for safety, or if it becomes another asset in its already flourishing business model. The answer may ultimately depend on how international data protection law adapts to meet the realities of the sport. If biometric information is treated as personal data, drivers could assert control over how it is shared. But if the FIA or teams manage to frame it as operational data essential to competition, a driver’s privacy could easily be sidelined in search of a profit.