THE RECKONING
8th FERRARI SF90 STRADALE
No, we’re not announcing the winner first (John Barker hasn’t been anywhere near these words): the SF90 Stradale was the first to fall at eCoty 2021.
Every judge saw positives in Ferrari’s technical tour de force. ‘When the SF90 is in tune with you and the road, it’s a deeply exciting car,’ explained Adam, while Henry proclaimed that in some ways ‘the Ferrari provides the biggest thrill of the lot’. So why, exactly, did no one place it higher than seventh?
What an unhappy car,’ explained Dickie. ‘It felt all at sea most of the time. Aloof and inconsistent.’ John found it frustrating from the off and Jethro concluded that: ‘This thing is so complex that it feels different corner to corner.’
That was the nub of the SF90’s issue: the unpredictable nature of how it was going to behave. Few of us could trust its front end, which would be razor-sharp and instinctive one corner, disconnected and like you were driving on glass the next. In addition to this, the powertrain felt clumsy switching between electric and ICE, the haptic controls were a distraction and it
