When it comes to washing off the huge velocities that you can reach between corners, the carbon-ceramic braking system is awesome both in retardation and staying power. Also, you can lean on the ABS very hard on the way into a bend as the computer sorts it all out for you.

While the speed of the gear changing in F430's F1 paddle shift in Race Mode was impressive, the Scuderia is even better. This represents one of the most significant improvements in the Scuderia - a faster upshift that reduces next ratio engagement to a stunning 66m/s, compared to the F430 at 150m/s and the 599 at 100m/s. The current Ferrari F1 GP car takes under 40m/s. With these benchmarks in mind, the Scuderia's 66m/s is very quick indeed.

The shift speed is variable according to various mapping strategies, and in normal driving on the road, you will not remotely approach 66m/s as the shift speed is also dependent on throttle position and engine speed. But turn the F1-derived Manettino knob on the steering wheel to Race and accelerate full bore, and you will experience the fastest gearshift on any road car ever.

Interestingly, unlike earlier Ferrari F1 road car systems and BMW's SMG gearbox, the opening and closing of the clutch when the Scuderia's gearbox is in full flight is so fast that you don't feel the disconcerting neck-snapping jerk characteristic of earlier, much slower systems.

The combination of all these factors adds up to a car that is perfectly civilized on the road, yet is two seconds a lap faster than the F430 around the Fiorano test track.

In isolation, that number is meaningless until you learn that the Scuderia's lap time of 1 min 25.0 sec is exactly the same as for the 651bhp, V12-powered Enzo Ferrari, the king of the 21st century supercars.

Having driven the Enzo, which relies on previous generation technology, I can see why. But on the other hand, the Enzo has better steering feel and a much nicer engine note, as it should do for twice the price.

However, there is one more factor that you have to take into account, which is the ultra sticky Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres. From my experience as one of the control drivers for the BMW M3 CSL project, I know from testing at the Nürburgring GP Circuit, trackday tyres are usually responsible for two thirds of the lap time improvement of a given car.

On that basis, I am surprised that the increase in power and torque, loss of 100kg and faster upshifting have not allowed the Scuderia to open up an even larger gap over the F430.

On the other hand, the 3.0 km Fiorano is very short, and the real gains would be seen at longer circuits like Hockenheim and the Nürburgring. These tracks would also make better use of the Scuderia's improved aerodynamic downforce in fast sweepers. That downforce is now quite significant, with 150kg in front and 180kg at the rear at 300km/h.

Ferrari could have simply issued a statement of the Scuderia's capabilities and handed us the keys for a purely road drive. Instead, they decided to base this launch at their test track, and before we tried the car on the track for ourselves, they had one of their F1 test drivers perform three hot laps fully wired up to their on-board telemetry system as used on the F1 cars. We then sat down with the engineers and analyzed the impressive data.

With their unsurpassed racing pedigree and many recent F1 Championships behind them, there is no doubt in my mind that the Ferrari Scuderia is the real deal.