That in itself is joy-inducing, even before you pop the bonnet (no easy feat in this car, frankly, because of the oddly offset lever placement). Underneath lies an engine of implausibly wonderful symmetry and balance which leaves one contemplating how on earth Ferrari can make a car go so fast and still manage to keep the engine looking so … pleasing? It’s a typically Italian capability, I suppose. But keeping the engine on display rather than covering it with unsightly plastic panels seems nothing short of a masterful stroke on the design team’s part. No need to hide perfection.

That theme continues inside the car where all materials and finishes are soft, stylish and eminently suitable for a Ferrari. There’s even a special receptacle to encase the Ferrari-red key in velvet so it remains on view for the driver. A carbon-fibre steering wheel typifies what Ferrari’s been doing in all of its modern cars – getting as much functionality on to the wheel as possible. Even turn signals are controlled with the thumbs, which is quite a change from the more conventional stick indicators. It was also home to a neat feature borrowed from Formula 1 cars to indicate the point at which the driver need to up shift gears if driving manually (which, girls, I seriously hope you do from time to time). The LED strip displays a line of red lights which eventually glow blue at the top-end of the rev range, indicating the ideal point at which to up shift.