Driving report: Ferrari F8 Tributo

Brand new or aged with dignity: As soon as you stand in front of a Ferrari, you always feel the same reflexes: the eardrum tingles, the stomach cover vibrates and the right foot begins to tremble very slightly. Get the key, get in and start the engine - everything else is irrelevant at this sight. Even the price of 228.661 euros disappears in a mental footnote, just like the fact that this F8 Tributo is actually an old friend. Because even if they have retouched a little on the design in Maranello and further refurbished the interior, you can see the coupé the 488 just like the 458, with which this trilogy began more than ten years ago.

Engine and speed

But the red racer rightly sends the new stimuli anyway. Because where it really matters, the Italians have a novelty to offer: The eight-cylinder, nicely draped under a plastic window in the rear, takes from its 3,9 liter displacement in the latest expansion stage an insane 529 kW / 720 hp and does that red racer hotter than ever. Especially since he has lost 488 kilos compared to the 40 GTB. Arrabiata, instead of just Aglio Olio, so to speak. And if you need something nice and mild afterwards, you should be consoled by a little more driving comfort, a new steering wheel with more ergonomic switches and a display in front of the front passenger. As if having the leisure to finger your way through a touchscreen during this hot ride.

With the first throttle, the fanfare from the two tailpipes lets the lard boil over in the ears, the stomach cramps into the format of a billiard ball and the eyes sink deep into their sockets when the F8 is in a void of 2,9 seconds Storms up to 100 km / h and then accelerates further as easily as if he were above the laws of physics. The seven-speed double clutch changes gears without any interruption of traction, the engine sounds as if it can contest all Italian operas from Puccini to Verdi all on its own, and the world outside in front of the narrow windows sweeps past faster and faster until all you can see is green streaks. No wonder: Even at 330 km / h, the F8 does not run out of breath.

But it's not just the quick sprint on the straight that burns the memory of the trip in this Ferrari. The fast ride through tight curves is even more impressive: whether Bilster Berg or Emilia Romagna - in the eternal game between braking and accelerating out, you really notice how poisonous and greedy the turbo reacts to every throttle and how little time it takes to think about it. Turbo lag? You don't have to look up the vocabulary for the dialogue with the engineers. Instead, you need a lot of other technical terms if you want to follow the developers. Because what is just a facelift for others, they turn it into a science at Ferrari, and of course they can explain it verbatim.

They are allowed to do that too, after all they have done a great job - in every direction: Just as the F8 has perfected longitudinal acceleration, it evidently negates transverse acceleration in return. As if Mr Newton and his laws had never existed, the coupé cuts through the curves so undeterred by any centrifugal forces that one becomes fearful. Not because of the car, but because it shows you very quickly and clearly who is actually the limiting factor here.

Design and interior

This is mainly due to the aerodynamics, which the Italians have perfected in the wind tunnel. The F8 not only looks more elegant than its predecessor, it also crouches better in the wind and, above all, is pressed more firmly onto the road. Unlike many of its competitors, Ferrari gets by without adolescent wings: "As sporty as our cars should be, we don't want to reveal our elegance," says designer Flavio Manzoni and therefore categorically rejects spoilers and sills: You can see essential details such as From the mirrors and the door handles, which are also shaped in the wind tunnel, nothing is pasted onto the body at Ferrari. "We prefer to take away everything that is superfluous," says the designer of the flat sculpture with the drawn-in flanks, the deep pit in the flat bow and the airlift at the stern. Instead of a fat wing, the Italians preferred to cut a kind of wind tunnel into the sheet metal, through which the air flows backwards under a form-fitting crossbar.

In addition, the extremely fast electronics for the stability control and the chassis control, which allow even laypeople to drift perfectly - and the almost foolproof low-flying aircraft that even laypeople can casually push to the limit is ready. How do you tell the engineers that? You don't have to leaf through the dictionary for a long time either: Anyone who brings out a bella, or rather: Schnella Macchina, from a face that is exhausted and satisfied after the test drive has actually said everything.

Ferrari F8 Tributo - Technical data: