A new Ferrari flagship comes around about once a decade, if that. Eleven years on from the LaFerrari, the Ferrari F80 is Maranello’s next pride and joy. It’s a fitting name, returning to the taxonomy the automaker started with the Ferrari F40 in 1987, and ensuring that there’s no mistaking where the hypercar sits in the company’s stable.
Like all Ferrari’s halo cars before it, the F80 represents the automaker taking everything it’s learned through motorsport, and engineering that know-how into the ultimate street car. In the F80’s case specifically, Ferrari says that the two-time Le Mans 24 Hours-winning 499P prototype inspired the powertrain, which comprises a 3.0-liter, twin-turbo, 120-degree V6 with two electric motors on the front axle and another that lives between the V6 and the F80’s eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. That last one is the MGU-K—tech Formula 1 fans are no doubt used to hearing about—and its job is to start the engine, recover energy to recharge the battery, and pipe in additional torque.
The V6 provides 900 horsepower and 626 lb-ft of torque and revs to a 9,200-rpm redline, while the electric motors supply another 300 hp and allow for torque vectoring up front. The F80 will hit 62 mph from a standstill in 2.1 seconds and top out at an electronically limited 217 mph.
The choice of a V6 will surely be disappointing for some—the LaFerrari had double the cylinder count, after all. But hybrid technology has advanced by leaps and bounds since then, and this V6 has direct ties to not only Ferrari’s endurance racing program, but its F1 cars as well. Just as with those cars, power is but one part of the equation. The F80 weighs 3,362 pounds, but can generate a superb 2,314 pounds of downforce, thanks to an active rear wing that’s secretly massive—though you’d only really be able to tell when it’s fully deployed—and an airflow feature Ferrari calls the “S-Duct” that funnels air from underneath the nose and hurls it over the canopy.
And then there’s the F80’s active suspension system: a double-wishbone layout, where each inboard damper is supported by a 48-volt electric motor. Believe it or not, the F80’s suspension is designed to be compliant when it’s not on the track. When it is, ride height control sinks the body as close to the surface as possible, and works to eliminate front-end dive during hard-braking corner entries to optimize stability.
If you’re familiar with Ferrari’s most recent high-end supercars, you’ll likely find the F80’s exterior design more of an evolution than a revolution. The front end is very sharp and angular, sharing the 12Cilindri’s polarizing black bar motif that pays homage to the original Ferrari Daytona, and the ducts behind the front wheels cut an almost straight line down the vertical length of the car. However, all the bodywork beyond that point is smooth and curved, particularly the rear-wheel haunches that evoke Maranello’s most storied prototype racers of the 1960s and ’70s. What’s more, Flavio Manzoni and his team at the Ferrari Styling Centre attribute the inspiration for that vertical panel aft of the wheels to the F40.
Speaking of the F40, the F80’s interior is also no-nonsense. The driver’s seat is red, while the passenger sits ever so slightly further back, in a black seat that blends completely into the rest of the cabin. The central stack of controls isn’t contained in a screen, but a solid panel that looks to combine buttons and capacitive controls; indeed, the only display you’ll find in the F80 is the one just behind the steering wheel. The F40 homage is further cemented with pull handles on the doors. Many vehicles are designed to be driver-focused, of course, but the F80’s cockpit resembles a cocoon that happens to have just enough space for a single companion.
Ferrari built 399 Enzos and 499 LaFerraris; for the F80, 799 examples are planned, and they should be ready for customers in the early part of 2026. Price? About $3.9 million, which makes the $2.1 million, 1,275-hp McLaren W1 look like a steal, at least on paper. The ultimate value judgment will of course be observed on the track, and we can’t wait to see how they match up.
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