Officially replacing Carlos Sainz as a Ferrari driver on Monday, Jacky Ickx says marketing, money and even politics played a role in Lewis Hamilton’s signing.

After all, says the twice F1 World Championship runner-up, Sainz’s Ferrari’s performances were above reproach.

Economics, marketing and politics behind Hamilton’s signing?

Ferrari shocked many when they announced early last year that Hamilton would be joining them after 12 years with Mercedes, the seven-time World Champion having activated a break clause in his one-plus-one Mercedes contract.

No one was more surprised than Sainz.

“I was told that I was not going to continue with the team that I was 99 per cent sure I was going to continue with going into that winter,” he revealed. “It was a massive shock to my hopes and I obviously didn’t enjoy that moment.”

Hamilton’s first day as a Ferrari driver made headlines around the world on Monday as the Briton visited the team’s Maranello headquarters and posed for photographs outside Enzo Ferrari’s iconic red-doored house.

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Two days later he put in his first laps in a Ferrari F1 car, covering 30 laps of the Fiorano circuit in an SF-23.

But while Hamilton celebrated his first days as a Ferrari driver, Sainz was marking his first days as a Williams driver with the team captioning Day One in a tweet that read: “He’s here, and he’s perfect.”

Ickx reckons Sainz, who spent four years with Ferrari and won four Grands Prix, was undone by marketing, money and politics.

“Carlos Sainz has done very well at Ferrari. Ferrari were tempted to sign Hamilton, probably for marketing reasons, and probably because Lewis wanted a new experience and to include Ferrari in his history. We’ll see,” Ickx told Mundo Deportivo.

“There’s nothing to reproach Carlos for at Ferrari. Carlos has been successful, he has won Grands Prix… but that’s in the past now. He has to think about what’s next.

“There are many important aspects to F1, not just politics. There are also economics, marketing, but it’s all about winning.”

Winning though, takes a partnership.

Although there were the occasional niggles between Sainz and Charles Leclerc, overall it was a line-up that worked well for Ferrari as they managed one runner-up result in the Drivers’ standings and one P2 in the Constructors’.

“The Leclerc-Sainz partnership worked,” Ickx said. “It worked because they both won races and they were always very close to each other. I don’t know how it happened.

“The only thing I can say is that it’s sad that Sainz is leaving Ferrari, but you have to move on and you can’t constantly think about what could have been and why it didn’t happen. No. You have to be focused on what you have and do the best with what you have.”

For Ickx though, Hamilton is more than just Formula 1.

“Lewis is a seven-time World Champion and the stars aligned for him,” he said. “When he left for Mercedes he came back to the top with a good car.

“But don’t forget that Lewis is a personality: he holds all the records and for me, he is twice as good, as a driver, but he is also the first one I have seen in motor sport involved in social media and he has not been afraid to do so and has started multiple activities for children.

“And he will do more for Africa in the future, believe me. Do you understand what I am trying to explain to you when I say that there are many aspects that count in F1?”

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