Why is Carlos Sainz called the smooth operator?
Carlos Sainz the Ferrari F1 driver is a well-established name in the F1 circuit and is popularly called the “smooth operator” by his team and F1 fans all over the world.
Carlos Sainz has previously explained how Sade’s 1984 song Smooth operator became a running joke for him in 2019.
In 2019 Carlos finished 5th in the Hungarian Grand Prix and while coming back to the pits Carlos told his engineer on the radio, “Thomas, you know what that was, before singing the song.
The song created a huge “frenzy” among the F1 enthusiasts and it was all over social media, moreover, the Spaniard sang the lyrics again after finishing P4 which later turned to P3 in the Brazilian Grand Prix 2019.
Back in the day when he was asked about the joke, Carlos said, “Just a song that kept coming up on the radio of the car [during] the British Grand Prix.“
“I just started hearing it on the radio. And apparently, it is quite a bit famous song.”
Carlos Sainz: I sang the song without knowing what a smooth operator was
Carlos while singing the song in Hungary wasn’t aware as to what the phrase meant and while talking about it back then said, “After the race [at the Hungaroring] I sang this song, without knowing what a smooth operator was. Then people in the team started telling me what was a smooth operator.”
“And then I realized, well, maybe I can attribute myself that and start creating a bit of a joke around me.”
“But uh, I didn’t sing it because I considered myself a smooth operator, because I didn’t know what a Smooth Operator was.”
Carlos has previously looked at all the memes that were popping on Youtube in 2019 regarding his “smooth operator” persona and said, “Yeah, very funny that.”
“I went through them, and there are some really funny comments, like this comment “we are here because of Carlos” and you see 1000 likes.”
Carlos was pretty pleased with all the attention that he was getting in 2019 and since then the phrase “Smooth Operator” has stuck to him and is still known as the “smooth operator” up and down the F1 paddock.
