Ferrari takes its racing DNA to the ocean with ‘Hypersail’ project

Ferrari is pushing its racing identity beyond asphalt and into the open sea with “Hypersail,” a high-performance ocean racing yacht project first announced in June 2025. The initiative — detailed in an official article published by Ferrari on 26 June 2025 — marks the company’s first entry into competitive offshore sailing and is designed to merge the automaker’s endurance racing technology with the extreme demands of trans-oceanic competition.

Unveiled during a private event in Maranello, the project is led by Ferrari Executive Chairman John Elkann alongside world-renowned Italian solo sailor Giovanni Soldini, who serves as Hypersail Team Principal, and a dedicated team of Ferrari engineers.

A new arena

Explaining the move, Elkann said Ferrari’s venture into ocean racing is a natural extension of its identity.

“Because we couldn’t not do it. When one looks at what drives Ferrari, it’s about passion and competence at the service of the impossible,” Elkann said in the June release. “Hypersail is a new challenge which leads us to overcome our boundaries and broaden our technological horizons.”

The project builds on the momentum of Ferrari’s return to endurance racing, where its Hypercar won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three years in a row from 2023 to 2025.

A yacht that 'flies'

The Hypersail yacht will be a full-foiling, over-100-foot monohull, capable of lifting clear above the water on carbon-fiber hydrofoils. This drastically reduces drag, allowing the vessel to skim the ocean surface at high speed — a feature previously seen in America’s Cup racing, but not yet in long-distance trans-oceanic competition.

Soldini described the yacht as a leap in both performance and control systems:

“From a nautical point of view, it is innovative in how it is made and how it will fly,” he said. “Ferrari's contribution is promoting the development of control systems never seen before on board.”

Stability is among the central engineering challenges. Ferrari engineers adapted algorithms used in the suspension control systems of its road and hypercars to maintain balance even in strong winds and rough seas.

Ferrari says roughly 90 percent of prototype components are being built inside its Maranello facility, with a workforce of about 20 full-time engineers supported by another 80 contributors from different departments. The company has not yet disclosed the name of the shipyard constructing the hull to “allow the team to work undisturbed.”

Hypersail will also be energy-self-sufficient, powered entirely by wind and solar systems, making it a zero-emissions craft designed for long-distance endurance.

Ferrari expects to formally unveil the full Hypersail yacht in 2026, with plans to field the boat in major ocean racing events thereafter — a move that could introduce the Prancing Horse to an entirely different global racing audience.

“Endurance has been part of Ferrari DNA from the very day our founder Enzo Ferrari started the company,” Elkann said.