re: Are F1 drivers athletes?

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But they mostly don't measure up to other professional athletes.

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Yeah they do. They meet every prerequisite we imagine for 'athletes.'

Maybe you have some preconceived notion in your head that goes something along the lines of the most athletic basketball player in the world would immediately be able to transition to another sport and perform it at a high-level with little training. But that line of logic doesn't translate to skill-based sports which also require athleticism to complement those skills. The coordination and reaction times required by F1 drivers is already elite, and their physical fitness is tailored to the demands of driving racecars at extremely high speeds.

In addition, do we really think that a fantastic basketball player, who we might regard as one of the best athletes in the world, would immediately be able to drive a racecar to even a semi-professional level? That would be asinine.