Opinion: does anyone really care about the McLaren W1 and Ferrari F80?

So, now we know. The Holy Trinity of the McLaren P1, LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder is finally delivering a sequel. Albeit without a new entrant from Porsche. Its pure EV concept, the Mission X, seems to have been quietly shelved, perhaps in reaction to the poor sales performance of cars like the Rimac Nevera and Lotus Evija. Let’s call it the Unholy Duality, then. McLaren W1 vs Ferrari F80. How is this one going to play out?

Well, without a V12 screaming to the far side of 9,000rpm, that’s for sure. The Ferrari has adopted a 3.0-litre twin turbocharged V6, plus a front e-axle to create a 4WD hybrid monster. The look is a sort of 1980s view of the future. Brutal, dense and deeply aggressive. The tech is derived from, or at least informed by, the 499P endurance racer. And the result is pretty spectacular. The F80 has 1,183bhp, can accelerate from 0–124mph in 5.7 seconds and is stuck to the road by up to 1,050kg of downforce.

The W1 is equally outrageous. In fact, it has even more power. The 4.0-litre twin turbocharged V8 and radial flux e-motor combine to deliver 1,258bhp. It’s lighter than the Ferrari, too. But as the W1 is RWD the acceleration figures are a shade slower than the F80’s. It produces 1,000kg of downforce. I mean, what doesn’t? When the twin test finally arrives it’s set to be a titanic struggle.

The question is, does anyone care? Don’t get me wrong. The idea of driving a W1 or F80 is thrilling. The performance is mind scrambling and there’s little doubt both will provide an industrial sized shot of adrenaline to the nervous system. But maybe the game has changed. The search for ‘more’ is surely a dead end? Nobody needs to go as fast as a McLaren 750S or Ferrari 296 GTB, let alone these new creations. Performance is a drug, no question. But when you can’t access it for more than a split second on the road, isn’t it a bit of a buzzkill?

Well, maybe. And yet, people do care. A lot. It’s fair to say the W1 and F80 are already hugely successful. They are sold out – 399 McLarens and 799 Ferraris, generating in excess of £23 billion of revenue. Our YouTube video of the F80 reveal has done vast numbers. There will be fistfights over who attends the press drives. So, any criticism of them is vaguely ridiculous. Yet, here goes...

Are they a bit predictable? And, dare I say, a bit forgettable? To me, the hypercar scene is now defined by opposites: the wonderfully light, pure, usable GMA T.50, and the aero obsessed Aston Martin Valkyrie. One remasters the old with incredible engineering artistry, the other pushes the boundaries and elevates road cars to a new plane entirely. They are already iconic. Every bit as inspirational as an F40 was back in the 1980s or an F1 in the 1990s.

By comparison, the W1 just seems like, well, a McLaren with an even bigger stick of dynamite up its tail. And the Ferrari traces a motorsport direction that most people would like to reverse in order to reignite the spectacle of light, agile cars fitted with engines you can hear from the next continent. They perfectly represent the futile pursuit of more, yet somehow don’t seem quite enough.