diff --git a/tests/base-notebook/test_container_options.py b/tests/base-notebook/test_container_options.py
index d60cc8bc..bf2a36df 100644
--- a/tests/base-notebook/test_container_options.py
+++ b/tests/base-notebook/test_container_options.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ def test_unsigned_ssl(
     # properly while the server is booting up. An SSL handshake error seems to
     # abort the retry logic. Forcing a long sleep for the moment until I have
     # time to dig more.
-    time.sleep(5)
+    time.sleep(1)
     resp = http_client.get(f"https://localhost:{host_port}", verify=False)
     resp.raise_for_status()
     assert "login_submit" in resp.text
@@ -91,9 +91,9 @@ def test_nb_user_change(container: TrackedContainer) -> None:
         command=["start.sh", "bash", "-c", "sleep infinity"],
     )
 
-    # Give the chown time to complete. Use sleep, not wait, because the
-    # container sleeps forever.
-    time.sleep(10)
+    # Give the chown time to complete.
+    # Use sleep, not wait, because the container sleeps forever.
+    time.sleep(1)
     LOGGER.info(f"Checking if the user is changed to {nb_user} by the start script ...")
     output = running_container.logs().decode("utf-8")
     assert "ERROR" not in output
diff --git a/tests/base-notebook/test_start_container.py b/tests/base-notebook/test_start_container.py
index 0f5c9b12..b3d69610 100644
--- a/tests/base-notebook/test_start_container.py
+++ b/tests/base-notebook/test_start_container.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def test_start_notebook(
         ports={"8888/tcp": host_port},
     )
     # sleeping some time to let the server start
-    time.sleep(3)
+    time.sleep(1)
     logs = running_container.logs().decode("utf-8")
     LOGGER.debug(logs)
     # checking that the expected command is launched