Ferrari’s new 849 Testarossa Spider weaves a web of desire for both drivers and bystanders

Although both open- and hard-topped versions of the new 849 Testarossa were announced together last September, Ferrari has staggered the launches, with the Spider following a few months after Ferrari allowed the media to put the hard-top through its paces on Seville’s Monteblanco circuit.

Whilst a track is more in keeping with the Testarossa’s racing heritage, the Spider variant was launched in Tenerife, a very different set of circumstances that help emphasise the sonic boost one gets from dropping the top. Before we take to the road, a word about aesthetics.

Sandwiched between the Testarossa driving launches was an unprecedented event for Ferrari, the launch of its first EV. Inside and out, the Ferrari Luce turned out to be purpose-built for global controversy. Not from us – we loved it – but from the kind of person who believes Ferrari should only build cars that look like the 849 Testarossa Spider.

Horses for courses, naturally, but if you can honestly look at these images of the 849, and then back at the Luce and conclude that the latter is in some way aesthetically inferior, then we have very different definitions of successful automotive design. It’s true that in photographs the sober elegance of the Luce doesn't always stick the landing – it's very angle dependant.

In contrast, the aggressively idiosyncratic drama of the Testarossa is more like a Frankenstein's monster of this and that, devoted primarily to the twin gods of aerodynamics and thermodynamics, with aesthetics trailing a distant third.

Aerodynamics can be weirdly messy and counterintuitive, and Ferrari has leant hard into its idiosyncrasies. The vertical slash behind the cockpit still discombobulates, as does the prominent air intake just behind the door shut line; it’s clearly hyper-functional, required to suck air into the twin-turbo V8, but it falls short of the aesthetics of pitlane practicality.

According to Ferrari, this element creates ‘the pinched effect of a corset’, their words, not ours, but it adds an unnecessary verticality to a horizontal form. It is, as always, form that follows function, although drama has been allowed to elbow its way into the chat.

As Adam Hay-Nicholls previously noted, the Testarossa’s design ‘has a Lego quality. I had my reservations when I first saw renderings, but in the flesh, I’m won over. Certainly, it’s the most extroverted cavallino we’ve seen in years. It’s so brash you might confuse it with a Lamborghini. The 849’s immediate predecessor, the SF90, was quite nerdy and inelegant. Contrastingly, its replacement is a jock in catwalk couture.'

Kudos, therefore, to the Ferrari brand machine for realising its inherent elasticity. With the Luce, Ferrari has shown that it can accommodate so much more than just pin-up poster fantasies.

Back to the here and now and we’re very much in the land of automotive romance. The Testarossa has just landed in Tenerife and the island has not seen anything like it. The silvery press cars flash around the volcanic landscapes, rocky coasts, and semi-tropical plains looking to all the world like a fleet of UAPs.

It is undeniably dramatic, but also awkward and fussy. Created alongside the hard-top, it shares an identical silhouette, with a compact folding roof mechanism that stows flat on the rear deck. With the top down and rear wind-protector raised, there’s minimal buffeting but maximal noise.

As a hybrid, you have the choice as to whether or not that sonic signature is imposed on passers-by; it’s pretty easy to select EV mode and glide silently past unseeing crowds. With the cylinders firing, there’s definitely more pointing and waving; could EVs be damaging the egos of the super-rich with their stealthy ways? It’s not as if lack of power is an issue. In total, there’s 1050hp on tap, 830hp of which comes via the V8. Three electric motors put out 220hp between them, literally electrifying the performance and making silent running a possibility.

This is a flagship, so it makes sense that stats are impressive, power outputs are high and superlatives come thick and fast. The largest turbocharger ever used on a Ferrari. The most powerful Spider model Ferrari has ever made. The most powerful V8 Ferrari has ever made. There’s a lot of engine pornography here, more than enough to offset the angry men put out by the Luce’s lack of combustion (although the glass engine cover gives only a disappointingly distant glimpse of the mechanisms). If you have the space and conditions to try it out, then zero to 100km/h can be achieved in 2.25 seconds.

Other componentry is similarly impressive, from three new specially developed tyres (courtesy of partnerships with Pirelli, Bridgestone and Michelin) to the twin aerodynamic winglets at the rear, and Ferrari’s hugely sophisticated dynamics, suspension and power management systems. All of this is conveyed in an info-dump presentation film, narrated by a voice that wouldn’t be out of place in a 1970s school science programme. At the end of it all, we have absorbed a substantial amount of information and feel renewed respect for Ferrari’s unstinting attention to detail.

One person’s detail is another’s massive complexity, and to the uninitiated, the 849 Spider’s cockpit is quite daunting. Ferrari has returned to physical steering wheel buttons after a disastrous foray into capacitive switching and most everything to do with the car’s drive and suspension systems can be accessed from the wheel. With the best will in the world, it’s not an ergonomic walk in the park, although familiarity will eventually blunt some of the more esoteric angles. This is where the Luce definitely has the edge.

The Spider’s roof adds some weight – around 90kg – but doesn’t make an appreciable difference to the car’s performance. The roof has impressive stats of its own; it can drop or rise in just 14 seconds at speeds of up to 45km/h. Behind it, the two winglets evoke the visual drama of the 1970s-era Sport Prototype models like the 512M and 512S. Customers who feel the car is not sufficiently distinctive can opt for the Assetto Fiorano specification which amps up the aero, strips out some weight and punches up the cost.

Tenerife is an island of two halves, bisected by steep, steep gradients and thick bands of cloud that bracket its varied different elevations. Spectacular but busy coastal roads and the occasional highway contrast with quieter, twistier fare at higher altitudes, where cloud cover gives way to baking sun. It’s a place to enjoy the Testarossa Spider’s breadth of ability, from silent cruise through seaside towns to flooring it up the mountain roads.

There’s an intoxicating balance between the perfectly weighted steering and the responsiveness of the throttle, with the click of paddle shifters only cementing the harmonious relationship between driver and machine. On a public road, the limits are very distant, but the 849 has a surefootedness and verve that can transform all types of motion into some kind of pleasure.

Whatever Ferrari might think, and however hard its committed team of engineers works to hone and fettle the driving experience, a car like this is ultimately about the drama. In that respect, taking the roof off is the simplest way to amp up the brand’s key attributes, ie, the sound created by the V8 and the attention garnered.

As a result, Ferrari typically expects more customers to opt for a Spider, with identical looks, feel and performance but more options when it comes to enjoying the car. But let’s not forget the impracticalities, like the tiny luggage space, or the visual and aural aggression that isn’t necessarily what you want to convey 100 per cent of the time.

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The 849 Testarossa Spider certainly scratches the itch for those beset by the cult of the brand, whether valued customer or mere civilian. For the vast majority of people, Ferrari’s sturm und drang is inevitably experienced as a vicarious pleasure, via an expat playboy noisily riding the lower gears as he races between pelican crossings in Knightsbridge, perhaps, or a lucky journalist rumbling through a remote mountain village.

For these fans, a Ferrari is considered to be a rare but thrilling part of the public infrastructure, a sonic and visual presence that gives pleasure without ownership. Trickle-down economics might be a phantom construct, but trickle-down joy is another thing altogether. Perhaps that’s the intangible Ferrari quality people feel might be missing from the Luce. The Testarossa has it in spades.

Ferrari 849 Testarossa Spider, from £442,467, Ferrari.com, @Ferrari