2018 F1 Season Could See Biometric Gloves Introduced

The FIA put forward an interesting proposition in terms of driver health. The plan is to introduce biometric gloves from the 2018 F1 season onwards. The new technology features a 3mm thick sensor. It will monitor a driver’s pulse rate and the amount of oxygen in the blood. In the future, F1 could add further monitors for body temperature and respiratory rate. The Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull drivers tested it during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. A decision is expected on the best place to stitch the sensor.

The project has ben supported by the Global Institute for Motor Sport Safety. They hope that the data from the sensors can make a difference in larger incidents.  FIA deputy medical delegate Doctor Ian Roberts said “We know that the monitoring of people is essential in terms of their medical care. Drivers in incidents are no different. We would like to start monitoring and assessing them as soon as we possibly can. But the equipment that we currently use is relatively bulky and is only applied after the incident has happened. There are also times when the driver isn’t immediately accessible to us, so if we can’t see him or we’re not actually next to him, there’s limited information that we can get.”

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He cited the example of Carlos Sainz Jr, when he crashed in the 2015 Russian GP. Because Sainz was stuck under the barrier, Roberts said that was difficult to assess him. “Accurate monitoring was impossible until we got hands-on. Obviously we couldn’t do that until the barriers were moved. If we had monitoring on him straight away we could have planned our rescue even better than we did. With this new technology, the moment a driver has an incident we will receive physiological readings and biometrics. So he is continually monitored from point zero right through to the initial response and on to the medical centre.”