Ferrari: Buttons, Design, Upgrades
Ferrari’s upcoming electric road car, the Luce, is being shown with a Jony Ive‑designed interior that deliberately keeps physical buttons instead of a big touchscreen — Ive calls touchscreens “lazy and impractical.” At the same time Ferrari’s F1 team is preparing major on‑track upgrades at Monza ahead of the next big race in Miami, a push aimed at addressing what Charles Leclerc has described as the team’s main weakness. (carscoops.com) (topgear.com) (gpfans.com) (grandepremio.com)
Ferrari’s Luce cabin was designed by LoveFrom, the studio led by Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson, and the preview images show a deliberate mix of jewel‑like physical controls (toggles, dials and aluminum pull switches) paired with a small, pivoting central screen rather than a single large tablet. (dezeen.com) (carscoops.com) The steering wheel is a handcrafted, three‑spoke unit machined from 100% recycled aluminium and assembled from 19 separate CNC‑machined parts, and the cabin uses tactile switches for climate and launch‑mode controls so drivers operate functions by feel instead of stabbing at a flat screen. (topgear.com) (dezeen.com) Those design choices are supported by specific tech decisions: the main dials use very thin overlapping OLED panels (a type of self‑illuminating display) to combine analogue needles with high‑contrast digital graphics, and the central 10.2‑inch display pivots on a ball joint and includes a palm rest so the driver isn’t forced to jab at it while driving. (topgear.com) (dezeen.com) On the racing side, Ferrari will run a private validation session at Monza to try out a substantial upgrade package that the team plans to bring to the Miami Grand Prix in early May; the test is intended to check aero and mechanical changes on a high‑speed track before committing them to a race weekend. (gpfans.com) (f1feed.net) Charles Leclerc has pointed to Ferrari’s power unit — the car’s engine and its hybrid systems that deliver overall drive power — as the team’s main weakness this season, and Ferrari says it will work on the power unit alongside aerodynamic, chassis and tyre‑usage improvements. (grandepremio.com) (gpfans.com) Details already visible in Ferrari’s Luce previews hint at how the company is matching tactile design to function: a “multigraph” combines clock, chronograph, compass and launch‑control readouts in a layered display, the key fob changes colour when docked to wake the system, and several switches were iterated with Ferrari test drivers to tune their mechanical and acoustic feedback. (topgear.com) (dezeen.com)
