F1 should give us drivers' reaction times to the green light

[Ringleheim]

The notion that a professional race car driver has some sort of "exceptional" "reaction time" and so on is outdated, and frankly wrong.

It is fascinating to try to understand/study why a fast driver is fast. What skill does the driver possess? What makes him go fast and why can't others go as fast?! This is an interesting conversation, but it has nothing to do with reflexes and reaction times.

[Moore77]

The notion that a professional race car driver has some sort of "exceptional" "reaction time" and so on is outdated, and frankly wrong to oversimplify so much.

It is fascinating to try to understand/study why a fast driver is fast. What skill does the driver possess? What makes him go fast and why can't others go as fast?! This is an interesting conversation, but it has nothing to do with just reflexes and reaction times.

Corrected that for you.

[Steven]

Why do you want to know reaction times, and heart rates?

Personally I think we have enough data. In cycling, they have been showing bpm values sometime in the last few years, but they use it sparingly, and the duration of a road cycling race hardly compares to a Formula One race.

I might be thinking old school here, but I have never heard anyone wondering about the heart rate of Hamilton, Alonso or Senna when they made a great pass, or took pole position, or saw their engine blow up. I think in these moments, the most important thing is the actual event. And when nothing is happening, and everybody is bored, are you then going to spice it up by showing heart rates? I'm not convinced...

I suppose it would be something different to talk about than who is saving their tyres the best for a change.

True, but just like in many other sports, F1 needs to focus on the issues, rather than covering them up with gimmicks like heart rate readings. Fixing the tyre problem would result in a much better end result than just adding heart rate readings to what we have.

[Wass85]

Why do you want to know reaction times, and heart rates?

Personally I think we have enough data. In cycling, they have been showing bpm values sometime in the last few years, but they use it sparingly, and the duration of a road cycling race hardly compares to a Formula One race.

I might be thinking old school here, but I have never heard anyone wondering about the heart rate of Hamilton, Alonso or Senna when they made a great pass, or took pole position, or saw their engine blow up. I think in these moments, the most important thing is the actual event. And when nothing is happening, and everybody is bored, are you then going to spice it up by showing heart rates? I'm not convinced...

I suppose it would be something different to talk about than who is saving their tyres the best for a change.

True, but just like in many other sports, F1 needs to focus on the issues, rather than covering them up with gimmicks like heart rate readings. Fixing the tyre problem would result in a much better end result than just adding heart rate readings to what we have.

Are the tyres actually that bad though? We haven't really had massive complaints about them for a couple of seasons now, those two weekends at Silverstone are not the norm.

I can recall 2010 and most of the races that season were boring shows, Canada was exciting and brand new.

[strad]

I’m not really interested in reaction time. Whatever that is.

HUH? It's how quickly a driver responds to the lights out.

[NathanOlder]

I think we can guage visually who got a good start or a bad start, a waste of time IMO.

But we don't know who has the best start (reactions) on the grid though. It would be interesting to know. You can see how gets the best reaction on the first 2 or 3 rows, but nothing further back. If you can see that, please tell us who had the best start in the last race.

[Wass85]

I think we can guage visually who got a good start or a bad start, a waste of time IMO.

But we don't know who has the best start (reactions) on the grid though. It would be interesting to know. You can see how gets the best reaction on the first 2 or 3 rows, but nothing further back. If you can see that, please tell us who had the best start in the last race.

The replays do tend to give it away, not all need reaction times to see the obvious.

[NathanOlder]

I think we can guage visually who got a good start or a bad start, a waste of time IMO.

But we don't know who has the best start (reactions) on the grid though. It would be interesting to know. You can see how gets the best reaction on the first 2 or 3 rows, but nothing further back. If you can see that, please tell us who had the best start in the last race.

The replays do tend to give it away.

Only for cars close to each other. Can you tell me who had a better start in the last race between Hamilton and Russell, or Max and Kimi?

[Wass85]

But we don't know who has the best start (reactions) on the grid though. It would be interesting to know. You can see how gets the best reaction on the first 2 or 3 rows, but nothing further back. If you can see that, please tell us who had the best start in the last race.

The replays do tend to give it away.

Only for cars close to each other. Can you tell me who had a better start in the last race between Hamilton and Russell, or Max and Kimi?

Tbh I don't really care, it's not like they were exactly racing each other on track.

[henry]

I’m not really interested in reaction time. Whatever that is.

HUH? It's how quickly a driver responds to the lights out.

The reaction timer starts when the lights go out. When does it stop?

[NathanOlder]

The replays do tend to give it away.

Only for cars close to each other. Can you tell me who had a better start in the last race between Hamilton and Russell, or Max and Kimi?

Tbh I don't really care, it's not like they were exactly racing each other on track.

Yeah thats fair enough, but it proves we can't know who has the best start/reactions, and replays don't tell us the answer as you claimed don't give it away.

[NathanOlder]

I’m not really interested in reaction time. Whatever that is.

HUH? It's how quickly a driver responds to the lights out.

The reaction timer starts when the lights go out. When does it stop?

I'd guess when the car starts to move?

[joshuagore]

I like the idea of a reaction timer. Who was napping or who wasn't prepared can't always be seen without pausing or slow mo of the start, also a fast reaction time may be masked by a low grip. It may also be cool to know who covered a set distance fastest, like a 60ft time, maybe longer, but not so long that first turn braking effects it. I understand we have a visual for all this in that we can see the cars side by side racing, but the data and insight may captivate the video game generation, I could imagine a social media buzz about fastest R/T or who had the fastest drag off the start, despite it being maybe meaningless in the grand scheme of the race.

[Andres125sx]

This is an interesting conversation, but it has nothing to do with reflexes and reaction times.

IMHO reflexes and reaction times are a key factor in any racing driver and would be interesting to know

[Andres125sx]

I think we can guage visually who got a good start or a bad start, a waste of time IMO.

But we don't know who has the best start (reactions) on the grid though. It would be interesting to know. You can see how gets the best reaction on the first 2 or 3 rows, but nothing further back. If you can see that, please tell us who had the best start in the last race.

Indeed. It would be nice to know who had the quickest reaction time and a comparison between the whole grid

It should be the time from the lights going out to the rear tires first movement. Easy to get it

Hearth rates are different as they depend on lots of factors and a lower hearth rate does not prove anything