First Drive: Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider

The red and yellow Ferrari nameplate represents the relationship between racing and beauty. On a late January morning, the newest Ferrari model, the 12Cilindri Spider, was a singular vision in deep green set against the sparkling backdrop of the Portuguese coast. From the outside, the 12Cilindri has lush, sculpted panels formed around a pronounced clam-shaped hood, a reference to the 1969 365GTS4. The Ferrari aesthetic is vibrant, palpable, and embodies its roots in motorsports that date back to 1929 when Enzo Ferrari founded Scuderia Ferrari. It’s why Ferrari belongs on the roadway, runway, and in the museum.

Ferrari on Exhibition

In 1994, the Museum of Modern Art presented the exhibition “Designed for Speed: Three Automobiles by Ferrari.” The exhibition explored the complexity of Formula 1 racing and how Mr. Ferrari’s pursuit of sport transformed the field. Detailed design and engineering sketches were shown along with the cars that included a 1950 166MM Barchetta, a two-seater open-top racing car. The oval-shaped Barchetta translates to “little boat” and the MM referenced the historic Mille Miglia road race, still held on public roadways from Brescia to Rome today. “Things that work well with nature and in alliance with the laws of physics are often beautiful—rarely with rough edges and seemingly not made by man,” said the exhibition curator Christopher Mount. The show also featured a red 1990 Ferrari Formula 1 racer, the second automobile to enter the museum’s Design Collection, designed by British designer John Barnard.

Designing 12Cilindri Spider

Decades after Enzo Ferrari established Ferrari as a motorsports-first company, the Italian brand continues the tradition of pairing performance and style in its purest breathtaking form. As the industry is on the precipice of a technological shift to battery power, Ferrari revisits its past from a modern perspective. This quarter begins with the 12Cilindri Spider, a contemporary example of how a car has evolved that references the infamous Ferrari V12 gasoline engine introduced in 1947. While the transition to batteries has begun, a rare gas-powered Ferrari that reaches new heights is the daring exception.

“We are a bunch of passionate people dreaming of something and making it happen,” said Andrea Miletello, head of Ferrari sport design projects. The Spider is the hardtop convertible variation of the coupe car, pronounced “dodici cilindri.” Making a car into a hardtop convertible is a complex design challenge. “Could you be able to say which one came first?” asked Miletello. “I hope not. The big challenge was to make sure that this spider was not a derivation of the coupe. They were developed in parallel together to make sure that you get the synthesis of the maximum achievable beauty of both configurations with the same design concept.” The Spider’s top goes up and down in 14 seconds at 45 mph.

A static museum exhibition cannot capture the sensation of driving this car, top down on the open highway. Every element the 12Cilindri Spider is an exercise in speed and sound, heightened by the tactile carbon fiber materials used in the interior space. We drove the Verde Toscana green grand touring car along coastal roads in Portugal and experienced a heightened awareness, a fantastical escape from reality that required complete concentration. Over some miles, confidence builds and while the 12Cilindri has a top speed of 211 miles per hour and 0 to 60 mile per hour time of 2.7 seconds, it’s also poised and manageable to drive on public roads for the casual driver.

The question is posed, will 12Cilindri become part of the legacy of collectible Ferraris? In 2023, a 1962 Ferrari 330 LM / 250 GTO sold for $51,705,000 at Sotheby’s. While this car was the most expensive Ferrari sold at auction, as these rare cars age it’s conceivable newer makes and models could one day follow suit. The 12Cilindri is powered by a decadent V12 gasoline engine that some speculate could be among its last powerful gas-powered models. Ferrari has already started to make hybrid engines and is scheduled to introduce a fully electric vehicle later this year.

Styled for Speed

The 12Cilindri Spider may represent the sunset of its famed combustion engines, but Ferrari is at the center of the zeitgeist. This season, British F1 driver Sir Lewis Hamilton joins the Scuderia Ferrari team for the most coveted seat in the sport alongside teammate Charles Le Clerc. In Ferrari’s early dominant years, British racing drivers Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn were among the stars in the sport that made Ferrari standout. Hamilton has won the F1 driver’s championship seven times, tied for the most wins with Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher. He is part of a generation of drivers that have made the sport more accessible and appealing with his passion for fashion, sustainability, and social activism. He wore custom Burberry to the 2024 Met Ball, a reference to poet Alex Wharton and 18th-century Black gardener John Ystumllym from North Wales. He was co-chair of the Met Ball last year and will return to the role at the Costume Institute this spring. Hamilton, the most winning F1 driver of all time, has appeal beyond his driving skills that align with the culture that is modern day Ferrari.

In recent years, Ferrari has also made forays into high fashion including ready to wear, shoes, and handbags. For the pre-fall 2025 collection Ferrari design director Rocco Iannone showed dresses, suits, and overcoats in hues of soft pink, sandy brown, and denim. “Like the core Ferrari products, Iannone’s collection is speedy, sexy, punchy, and a little brash,” Vogue wrote in a December review. Iannone spent a decade at Giorgio Armani before joining Ferrari in 2021. Pieces from Ferrari collections will be presented at F1 race destinations in Monaco, Silverstone, and Austin throughout the season.

Ferrari is poised to carry on its heritage in the aesthetics of racing in an era of substantive change. After the 1994 Ferrari exhibition at MoMA, the museum included Ferraris in two additional shows “AUTObodies: speed, sport, transport” in 2002 and most recently in the 2021 show “Automania.” Driving the sumptuous 12Cilindri Spider, it’s not question of whether Ferrari has made yet another timeless design that is museum worthy, but how fast and far the company can go in this endless pursuit of beauty and speed.