Ferrari F80 2025 review – near-1200bhp tech tour de force tested on road and track

The F80 promises to be the most complete road and track Ferrari there has ever been. To find out we’ve travelled not to Maranello and Fiorano, but to the Misano circuit on the Adriatic coast. Here we are promised the opportunity to experience the full scope of the F80’s cornering, braking and accelerative talents, before heading into the hills to see how this near-1200bhp, 217mph, £3.5-million high-downforce hybrid powered monster feels on the road.

Our track sessions begin with a passenger ride alongside Ferrari test and development driver, Francesco Comand. It’s predictably impressive – a blur of immense acceleration, unbelievably intense braking and neck-straining cornering. Without such a vivid demonstration of the F80’s outright capabilities I’m not sure it would be possible to push meaningfully hard in the three five-lap sessions we’re allocated.

Reach three-quarters of the way down the door and slot your fingers against the softly-sprung flush-fit flap. Door released it swings up and out on gas struts, taking a section of roof with it for easier ingress. It’s actually very easy to drop into the driver’s seat: just shimmy your hips down and swing in your legs with no need to fold them up awkwardly over the sill.

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The cockpit is what Ferrari describes as a ‘1+’ layout. The passenger seat – fixed to the firewall and non-adjustable - is set slightly behind the driver’s seat, in echelon, if you will. It works really well, the driver in a zone of their own, passenger tucked out of the way but still getting a fabulous view of the driver at work and the world beyond the windscreen.

Our laps are completed with the hybrid system’s new Boost Optimisation function engaged. Available when Performance or Qualify is selected on the eManettino, this uses GPS data gathered on an initial recon lap to learn the circuit, before calculating where the best points are to deploy hybrid assistance. In Performance mode it maintains electric boost deployment at a sustainable level, so the batteries are never drained; in Qualify it wrings every last drop from the batteries in one lap.

It takes two of the three sessions to work the F80 close to its limits. Not because it’s tricky to drive – quite the contrary – but because you need a while to understand just how hard you can work it in the braking areas, and how you can extend these braking areas deep into the heart of each corner.

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In this respect the F80 is like a race car in that it only clicks when you can string the braking, corner entry and initial throttle application together into one delicious, seamless process. Brake too soon and, most likely, too softly and you find yourself becalmed way before your turn-in point and needing to get back on the power. Trust in the combined might of the F80’s new Brembo CCM-R Plus brakes and ABS Evo control system and the way the F80 stops is mind-blowing.

Pedal feel is fabulous – firm from the first millimetre of travel and consistent right up to the apex – and the resistance to an ABS intervention is extraordinary.

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It’s the way you can pull such big longitudinal g and lateral g under braking that’s a bit mind-boggling, slowing right on the limit of the tyre (a Michelin Pilot Sport Pilot Cup 2 R on these track F80s) with the front-end pinned to your line and the rear-end resolutely following with no hint of breaking free and needing corrective inputs.

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Central to this spooky capability is the active suspension system, which counters the forces of roll and pitch to maintain a stable platform, and therefore consistent aerodynamic downforce. It’s an evolution of the Multimatic system first seen on the Purosangue and operates with even greater precision and fidelity. You’re aware that the F80 has a feeling of serenity, even as you hear the Cup 2 Rs yelping under maximum braking, but there’s just enough initial movement to read the car and gauge how hard you’re working it. For such an unnaturally gifted car it feels impressively natural.

All this grip and stability encourages a modern geometric racing line rather than long, old-school arcs; brake late and deep, cut straight to the apex then straighten the car and punch out on all that combustion and battery torque.

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It’s prescriptive but very absorbing, the ease of operating the car allowing you more mental bandwidth to focus on nailing your braking points, trying to keep your minimum speeds as high as possible and opening the steering to allow maximum acceleration with minimal nibbling from the traction control system.

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Exiting the low-speed corners is an epic demonstration of the F80’s explosive straight-line pace, second, third and fourth devoured so rapidly it’s easy to catch the 9200rpm limiter despite the shift lights changing from red to blue as a visual prompt. The intensity fades a little in 5th thanks to the Boost Optimisation, which ensures you get maximum shove when and where it matters most (usually as early as possible in any acceleration phase).

Interestingly, and for the first time in a Ferrari, my fingers instructively reach for paddleshifters attached to the back of the steering wheel rather than the paddles fixed to the steering column. It’s an indication of how even through the tightest turns you never need to take your hands from the quarter-to-three position. If the fixed paddles were longer it might help, but race-car-style shifters on the wheel would be better.

As for high-speed corners Misano’s kink is as formidable as they come. Easy flat in mortal machines, the F80 accrues such speed you’re approaching at 160mph+. In our first few sessions it seemed impossible to tackle it without braking, but by the final few laps it was taken with the gentlest brush of the brakes and – with a deep breath – a blend out of the throttle.

Ferrari F80 on the road

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The next day we head into the hills for a morning on the road. No chaperones, just strict instructions to return by lunchtime. The V6 sounded good with a crash helmet on but it sounds great when there’s nothing in the way. Gruff and respiratory, it’s pleasingly mechanical but also has some musicality and ensures it’s not too droney on the autostrada.

The gearbox is absolutely sensational. Immediate, near-seamless and with a wicked whipcrack report on full-throttle upshifts, it is without doubt the best DCT transmission I’ve ever experienced.

You can’t drive the F80 in electric-only mode – Ferrari didn’t feel that fitted the brief – so you’re always propelled by a blend of battery and combustion. It’s effortless on the autostrada, apparently bottomless reserves of high-gear low-rev flex squeezing you towards the horizon on an invisible cord of elastic.

There’s some road noise transmitted from the tyres (F80-specific Cup 2s for our road test element) through the suspension and into the tub, but it’s subdued enough to easily hold a conversation without having to raise our voices.

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Body control is immaculate, but over the rough urban surfaces the low-speed ride is a bit agitated. This despite there now being Hard, Medium and Soft settings available via the brilliantly simple ‘Bumpy Road’ button. I guess all things are relative when it comes to the ‘softer’ rates those track-ready dampers allow. It’s the only downside to an otherwise fabulous chassis set-up.

The steering is quick and ultra-precise but has a perfect rate of response, so you seem to steer without conscious thought. Look at the apex and you find yourself there. It’s a magical sensation as you flow from corner to corner, no distracting noise from the steering, just a purity and consistency with no stodge that some EPAS systems build-in in a misguided effort to use weight as compensation for a lack of feel and connection.

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It's this connection that’s key to the F80’s success as a street car. I’d feared a car packed with such advanced technology and so reliant upon calibration to knit powertrain, brakes, suspension and aerodynamics seamlessly together might feel cold and contrived. Instead, the bond you form is intimate, intuitive and almost immediate.

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It's a surprise. Not because there’s any reason to doubt Ferrari’s ability to harness advanced electronics, but because 1200bhp supercars with literally a ton of downforce are by their nature so well within themselves at road speeds and commitment levels. Take your chance to fully uncork it and the F80 is insanely quick but it’s not something you can sustain for more than an admittedly heart-pounding few seconds.

It's good to know the F80 has a wild side, but it’s the satisfaction you get from it at less banzai speeds that’s more important. The engine and gearbox are insanely well matched and give you such pleasure. The brakes have brilliant feel and response, the way you feel load build through the steering and chassis, while appreciating the lack of pitch and roll ruins you for less gifted machinery. It is a high-fidelity driving experience in every single regard. One that’s unmistakably Ferrari, even though it does things in a way no Ferrari has ever done before.

The F80 shows that when deployed with conviction and honed to the nth degree, a supercar which relies upon a downsized hybridised engine and mind-bendingly complex electronic systems can also be wholly seductive. If the F80 is a pathfinder for Ferrari’s future series-production cars we’re in for a treat. 

Ferrari F80 specs