- Haas F1 and University of Chicago launch F1’s study on team personnel health.
- Mechanics, engineers and staff will wear sensors and answer questionnaires.
- Findings could reshape how high-pressure industries support their people.
The TGR Haas F1 Team and the University of Chicago Medicine have launched a research collaboration to study the physical and psychological effects of a Formula 1 season on team personnel.
Named “The Human Engine,” the study is the first of its kind in the sport to be conducted alongside an academic medical centre. It is currently underway and will run across the 2026 race season.
The study monitors travelling Haas F1 team members, including mechanics, engineers, IT staff and operations personnel.
Researchers will collect data on sleep patterns, recovery, workload, stress and team dynamics using wearable devices, questionnaires and interviews.
All data will be de-identified and analysed in aggregate to protect individual privacy.
A partnership that grew into something more
The collaboration between Haas F1 and UCM began in 2024, when the Chicago-based medical centre became the first healthcare provider to serve as an official team partner in Formula 1.
The partnership launched at the Las Vegas Grand Prix and initially centred on brand visibility. It has since expanded into a formal research programme with clinical depth.
The research team is led by principal investigator Vineet Arora, who also serves as Dean for Medical Education at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
He is joined by Kenneth Lee, Jennifer Ghandhi, Alejandra Lastra and Aashna Sunderrajan, whose combined specialisms cover sleep medicine, neurology, psychiatry and behavioural science.
Arora explained the study’s ambition in direct terms.
“Our goal is to understand precisely how these factors interact over time, not just how individuals feel, but what the data tells us, and to develop targeted interventions that support performance, recovery and well-being,” he said via the UCM’s official website.
He added that the findings could reshape how people are supported “in any environment where the demands never stop.”
What the calendar actually demands
The 2026 F1 season was originally scheduled for 24 grands prix, running from March to December across five continents.
Two rounds were later cancelled due to geopolitical disruption, reducing the total to 22. The remaining schedule still includes sprint weekends, back-to-back races and triple-headers.
For team personnel, that calendar means months of international travel, shifting time zones and overnight working sessions. It also means long stretches away from home and family.
Unlike drivers, whose physical conditioning is closely managed and well documented, the people who build the cars, run the data systems and manage logistics have received far less attention from researchers.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu put it plainly. “Formula 1 is an incredibly demanding environment, not only for drivers, but for everyone working within the sport,” he said.
He described the study as part of the team’s broader effort to understand how those demands affect its people and to help them “operate at their best, both on and off track.”
The view from inside the team
Within Haas F1, the study is being driven by Dan Martin, the team’s lead performance coach, and Faith Atack-Martin, who works as performance coach and team physiotherapist.
Both have spent considerable time observing the effects of the season on the people around them. Martin pointed to the combination of physical and social pressures that F1 staff face.
“The modern-day F1 schedule with car build, pre-season tests, and over 20 races is challenging both physically, owing to the large amount of travel, jet lag, and the physical nature of race team roles, but also socially with large amounts of time away from home and families,” he said.
He described the study as an opportunity to quantify those stressors and develop practical solutions for health, career longevity and team performance.
Atack-Martin brought a more clinical perspective.
“As a physiotherapist in a multidisciplinary sport science team, I see the daily prevalence of physical injury relating to fatigue and load in this environment,” she said.
She expressed confidence that academic collaboration would lead to evidence-based strategies with “greater impact, and overall health benefits for this team.”
Why the findings could matter far beyond F1
UCM brings a specific body of expertise to this work.
The institution has conducted research on fatigue, shift work and decision-making in demanding clinical settings, and the parallels between hospital environments and a race team are not hard to draw.
Both operate across irregular hours, under sustained pressure and with the consequences of errors rarely being small.
The researchers expect the study’s findings to apply to fields such as healthcare, emergency response and other high-reliability professions where teams must sustain performance over long periods.
Peer-reviewed publications are planned following the study’s completion.
Where Haas F1 stands as this begins
The timing of the initiative reflects a period of broader change for the team.
In December 2025, Haas ended its title sponsorship with MoneyGram and rebranded as TGR Haas F1 Team after deepening its ties with technical partner Toyota Gazoo Racing.
The team had a strong 2025 season and came close to scoring a podium at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
For a team that has typically operated with one of the smaller budgets in the paddock, the decision to invest in the health and performance of its workforce carries strategic logic.
Staff retention and consistency have become measurable competitive advantages in a sport where the people behind the pit wall matter as much as the machinery in front of them.
The Human Engine study positions Haas not just as a midfield competitor, but as a team trying to lead on a question the whole sport has largely left unanswered.
