Lewis Hamilton’s F1 gloves are part of the late Charlie Whiting’s legacy

THESE are the life-saving Formula One GLOVES that will form part of the late Charlie Whiting’s legacy.

Each glove monitors drivers’ vital signs during a race via a 3mm sensor stitched into the palm of the fire-resistant clothing.

The gloves — which measure pulse rates, blood oxygen levels and movement — were worn by pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and his fellow drivers for the first time in this morning’s Australian Grand Prix.

FIA race director Whiting died suddenly, aged 66, after suffering a pulmonary embolism here on Thursday morning – just three days before the start of the new F1 season.

Hamilton had a poignant ’thank you Charlie’ tribute etched on his Mercedes during the race.

The Brit had been responsible for the introduction of improved safety measures in F1, including the Halo cockpit protection system.

And his final innovation before passing away was the the biometric glove, which is set to redefine standards in the sport.

The gloves were conceived and designed by top F1 doctor Ian Roberts and medical safety car driver, Alan van der Merwe.

Van der Merwe revealed: “Charlie was the second one to see it. I remember saying to him that it was not finished but he said it was ‘bloody brilliant and should be on every driver’.

“Without him, we would still just be talking about biometrics.”

Work on the glove technology began following Carlos Sainz’s accident during the 2015 Russian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard’s Toro Rosso hit the barrier head-on at 130mph.

But the F1 medical team had no idea he was injured until the barrier was lifted off the car as he had lost radio contact.

Roberts said: “Carlos’ moment in Russia was the seminal moment.

“That drove the need of monitoring the driver’s vitals.

“It was not a case of taking something off the shelf. It was something we had to develop ourselves.

“Charlie was very supportive of it. The origins of the glove were around our desire in the medical car with how we improve the care to the driver.

“It measures the pulse, the oxygen in a driver’s blood and their hand motion, which might indicate if they had been knocked unconscious. The blood oximetry indicates if they had an airway block and were not breathing.”

The state-of-the-art technology could now be used to produce a whole F1 suit for drivers, to give each team detailed feedback on performance.

Van der Merwe added: “Lewis will use a few sets of gloves per day but we don’t see the glove as the end. We have other things coming.

“Performance monitoring is what teams want.

“In the next six months there is going to be a big jump in how this data is accessible.”