F1 reaction time test: react when the lights go out
Five red lights come on one second apart. When they all go out, click, tap or press Space as fast as you can. Five starts make a set.
No download, no account: it runs in your browser, Chromebooks included.
Your device and browser add delay to the result.
Your settings
Settings stay on this device. A challenge link carries the attempts and the wait, so your friend plays the same test.
Your run
Up to 16 letters or numbers. It travels only inside the link, and nothing is stored by us.
How a Formula 1 start works
A Grand Prix starts from a standing grid. Above the track, five pairs of red lights come on one after another, one second apart. After a pause no driver can predict, they all go out together, and that is the start. Nobody can time the pause, so drivers react to the lights going out.
This test copies that sequence: five lights one second apart, then a changing wait before they go out. Your time runs from the moment the lights go out to your click, tap or Space press. The race procedure is described in Wikipedia's article on Formula One regulations, listed on our Sources page.
Jump starts
Press before the lights go out, or within 80 ms after, and the start counts as a jump start: it is not scored, and you go again until five starts count. In a real race, jumping the start is one of the offenses stewards can penalize.
What is a good time?
Your result is the median of five starts, so one lucky guess or one slow start does not decide it. Your screen, mouse or keyboard and browser add their own delay, so compare sets taken on the same setup. For what reaction times usually look like, read the average reaction time guide; for ways to practice well, see how to improve reaction time.
More reaction tests
The reaction time test has visual and sound cues as well as start lights. The choice reaction test asks you to pick a side, and go/no-go asks you to hold back on the wrong cue.
This start-light game is not affiliated with Formula 1 or the FIA.