"Engineering at the cutting edge": why the Ferrari F80 is our hypercar of the year

Chronic hypercar fatigue has been officially recognised by the UK Health Security Agency for the first time. Symptoms include apathy, mild to acute outrage and severe memory loss. Honestly, can you picture or distinguish between a Giamaro Krafla and a Garagisti & Co GP1? Or a Capricorn 01 Zagato and De Tomaso P72? We all adore stupidly powerful and wild looking cars, but there seems to be a new one launched every other week.

Most are trying to reconnect with that most prized of words in our AI-infested reality: analogue. As ‘normal’ cars become smarter and more connected, so they seem to distance themselves from the human operator. So, the new ‘hyper’ is something of a regression. Everyone is rushing back towards manual gearboxes, normally aspirated engines with as many cylinders as possible and interiors by Fabergé.

So, you might say that the Ferrari F80 is a hypercar out of time. It has a downsized V6, a highly powerful and complex hybrid system including a front e-axle, and a brutalist shape that seems to reject the fluid beauty of old and instead smash its way to a ruthlessly single minded future. Inside, it’s plain, simple and tightly sculpted for two in order to superpower the aerodynamic underfloor. It has ‘just’ 1,183bhp, making it one of the least powerful hypercars of modern times, too.

The flipside of that argument is that the F80 is the hypercar only Ferrari could make. Such is the allure of the name there is no need to chase fads. Downsized and hybrid might seem weak concepts to others, but when the powertrain is drawing directly from the prototype racer that has won Le Mans outright for the past three years, it’s a glorious strength. 

Technology isn’t the enemy, it’s just about how it’s conceived and deployed. In the F80’s case, Ferrari has embraced knowledge from F1 and endurance racing to create a whole that’s raw and energised but exploitable, intuitive and usable. The F80 sounds a bit tame from the outside, but inside it snorts, fizzes, shrieks and roars. So many layers, so much performance.

And for those dreaming of an open-gated manual gearbox, please don’t fret. The F80’s dual clutch box is an absolutely core part of its appeal. Upshifts are pure honey-coated violence, every bit as impressive as a pure racecar system. On the way down the instantaneous response literally makes you shake with adrenaline. The old ways are great. But, when done right, the new ways are pretty unforgettable, too.

Maybe you still don’t get the looks? Just wait. The first time you see the F80 on the road, you’ll be a believer. Not many £3 million plus hypercars exceed expectations, but Ferrari hasn’t just popped up with a cool name, some turned aluminium trim and a mid-engined wedge of carbon fibre. This is hypercar engineering at the cutting edge intertwined with pure passion.