Speed & reaction · F1 lights
F1 Reaction Time Test
Five red lights come on one by one. Go the instant they all go out.
Wait for the panel to turn green, then click or press space as fast as you can.
Click or press space to start
What this measures
A Formula 1 start does not begin on a green light. Five red lights come on in sequence, hold for somewhere between 0.2 and 3 seconds at the starter’s discretion, and then all go out at once. The random hold is deliberate: it makes the start impossible to anticipate.
Formula 1 does not publish per-driver reaction times, so the figures quoted around the internet have no source behind them. Athletics does publish them, and there the rule is that any movement under 0.100 seconds after the gun is a false start — a threshold the IAAF set in 1989 on a small study, and which its own later research recommended lowering to 80 or 85 milliseconds after measuring national-level sprinters reacting that fast.
This variant reproduces the sequence, including the random hold. It is the same measurement as the main test with a different visual signal, so your score here should land close to your standard reaction time.
What is a good reaction time score
| Band | Score | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Top 1% | ≤ 150 ms | 99th |
| Top 5% | ≤ 175 ms | 95th |
| Top 15% | ≤ 200 ms | 85th |
| Top 30% | ≤ 225 ms | 70th |
| Median | ≤ 273 ms | 50th |
| Bottom 25% | ≤ 320 ms | 25th |
| Bottom 10% | ≤ 400 ms | 10th |
Bands anchored on Human Benchmark’s published median of 273 ms across more than 81 million recorded clicks.
Full reaction time statistics, by age and device →
Questions
What is a good F1 reaction time?
The same as on any visual reaction test: under 250 ms is respectable and under 200 ms is quick. Formula 1 does not publish driver reaction times, so anyone quoting a grid average is quoting a number with no source.
Why do the lights hold for a random time?
So the start cannot be anticipated. In Formula 1 the starter chooses the hold between roughly 0.2 and 3 seconds, and this test uses the same random range.
What is a good reaction time?
The median adult scores around 273 ms on a mouse. Under 200 ms puts you in the top 15%, under 175 ms in the top 5%, and under 150 ms in the top 1%. Controlled measurements bottom out near 100 ms for a visual signal, so a score well below that is a lucky guess that happened to land rather than a reaction.
Why is my reaction time slower here than on other sites?
Most sites start their clock when their JavaScript changes the colour. The browser does not show that change until the next frame is painted, one to two frames later. We start the clock at the painted frame, which is honest and typically reads 8 to 30 ms slower than sites that do not.
Does my monitor affect the result?
Yes, substantially. Refresh rate adds up to half a frame of quantisation, and display processing adds more — some televisions add over 100 ms in their default picture mode. Wireless mice and keyboards add a few milliseconds on top. We show the uncertainty we can measure so you know how much of your number is you.
Is keyboard or mouse faster?
For most people the two are within a few milliseconds, but they are not identical: a key press registers on the way down while a mouse click registers on the button press, and wireless polling differs between devices. Because of that we rank keyboard scores against other keyboard scores.
What happens if I click too early?
The round is void and you repeat it. We do not score a false start as a slow round: adding a punishment number to your five rounds would corrupt your median and the shared statistics along with it.
Try next
Results are stored in your browser only. Read how we measure if you want the details of the timing, or go back to the standard reaction time.