‘Competition drives Ferrari – but it could do without the level it currently faces’

Competition has driven Ferrari since its very earliest days, when founder Enzo was unapologetic in his priorities; building and selling road cars may have paid the bills but it was humbling rivals on the track that drove him.

But Ferrari could surely do without the level of competition it currently faces. In Formula 1, Ferrari would appear to be ‘winning’ the pre-season tests. But recent experience suggests Mercedes aren’t a team to worry much about fast lap times when there are no points to be won, and that their operational armour is pretty much without chink. World’s most complete driver? Check. The fastest car over a season? Check. A pitwall not given to race-ruining errors? Check.

No wonder Ferrari’s been forced to make some big changes, replacing both its team boss and one of its drivers – the latter with F1’s Next Big Thing, Charles Leclerc.

And on the road car side, rivals Lamborghini, McLaren and now Aston Martin continue to apply sustained pressure in a year in which – to put it mildly – Ferrari has quite a bit on. Late last year it confirmed that the Purosangue SUV was in development, complete with an innovative new suspension system able to marry the apparently contradictory traits of generous wheel travel and the kind of agility and body control buyers will expect from a Ferrari – even a tall, vaguely boxy Ferrari with a name spectacularly ugly beyond its native tongue (in which it sounds glorious, obviously).

Then there’s the small matter of its third engine family – a hybrid-assisted turbo V6 to join its award-winning turbo V8 and utterly mesmerising turbo-free V12. Given Porsche sweated the simple act of having to fit the new 911 with now compulsory exhaust particulate filters, I can only begin to imagine the brain-frying complexities around engineering a new hybrid powertrain from scratch.

Just borrow the F1 team’s powertrain (also a hybrid V6, of course)? Prohibitively expensive. Borrow the tech introduced in Ferrari’s first hybrid, the LaFerrari? Not worth having, I fear. While that car’s electric motor summoned a not inconsiderable 161bhp, the LaFerrari’s silent, electric-only range was measured in metres, not miles.

Nope, they’ll have to do this one the old-fashioned way, with blood, sweat and tears. But the result will be spectacular, of that I’m sure. LaFerrari, 488 Pista, 812 Superfast – on current form Maranello’s ability to seamlessly integrate new technology into an intuitive driving experience is all but peerless. Just as well, given the onslaught coming its way.

You may have noticed that CAR’s evolved a little this month. If you haven’t noticed, that’s fine by us. If you have and you like the new look, feel and mix of stories, that’s also good news. You might even want to get involved, either as part of The shortlist, our new regular road test in which readers drive the cars they’re thinking about buying, or One year on, the story of your first year with your latest buy. Either way, it’d be good to hear your thoughts – drop us a line at car@bauermedia.co.uk

Enjoy the issue.