Where did Sainz's 'smooth operator' tagline come from?

Carlos Sainz started calling himself a "smooth operator" last summer, but why exactly did the Spaniard choose the title of the famous Sade song as his tagline?

It all started at this year's Hungarian Grand Prix, when a productive P5 finish at the Hungaroring incited Sainz to belt out a few notes from Sade's hit over the radio on his cool-down lap.

From there on, the mania took off, much to Sainz's complete surprise.

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"I just started hearing it on the radio, and apparently it is quite a bit famous song," Sainz told Motorsport.com.

"After the race 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 realised, 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."

Judging by his fans' comments on Youtube, the moniker was well chosen.

And Sainz has looked through the YouTube comments regarding his “smooth operator” persona.

"Yeah, very funny that," he said.

"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!"

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