The cars to buy for a taste of Formula 1

[SINGAPORE] With Formula 1 in the air again, grandstands have sprouted around Marina Bay, hotel bars are crowded with fans in team colours, and car companies involved in the sport are relishing the chance to show off their latest and greatest. 

Or, in Ferrari’s case, their cutest.

Produced by Hedley Studios, the Testa Rossa J currently on display inside The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands is literally a baby Ferrari: a three-quarter-scale, battery-powered replica of the 1957 250 Testa Rossa.

Like a real racing car, it cannot legally go on a public road – but only because it is merely an exquisite toy.

It also has nothing whatsoever to do with F1 (the original raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, not in Grands Prix), but it is an officially licensed product built from Ferrari’s original technical drawings. It is on display only a short walk from the racetrack, so you might consider it close enough.

Besides, close enough will have to do for anyone who is not an F1 pro, though carmakers with their own teams usually try to meet the ordinary driver halfway with road cars that would not be out of place on the track.

Eight-time Constructors’ Champion Mercedes-Benz, for instance, launched the Mercedes-AMG GLC 53 at the Mercedes-Benz Studio in Gardens by the Bay on Oct 2.

The SUV has a 3.0 litre six-cylinder engine with 449 horsepower, enough to go from 0 to 100 kmh in 4.2 seconds. Its rear wheels also steer slightly, though more for the sake of pulling tight turns in a car park than speedier lap times around the Marina Bay Street Circuit. 

At S$475,888 with a Certificate Of Entitlement (COE), it offers some link to the people behind the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team with far more practicality than an F1 thoroughbred. 

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If you like your connection with F1 a little closer, Audi’s new RS 5 might fit the bill.

Like the cars on the grid, it is powered by a turbocharged V6 hybrid engine, which pairs a 2.9 litre twin-turbo V6 with an electric motor for 639 horsepower – a huge amount of power, but only about two-thirds what an F1 driver has at his disposal. 

Arriving in Audi’s maiden F1 season, the RS 5 starts at S$713,999 with COE for the sedan version, while the wild wagon RS 5 Avant, at S$723,999, is the one to have if you want room for a samoyed. It is on show at Funan until Sunday, beside a show car of Audi’s actual F1 racer.

The brand has even commissioned a gelato from Birds of Paradise, named after its drivers and flavoured with vanilla, fig and mint chocolate, so F1 marketing has now officially reached dessert.

Of course, V6 hybrids are not exclusive to Audi. McLaren’s Artura Spider uses one to breathtaking effect, putting 700 horsepower to the tarmac for a blistering 0 to 100 kmh sprint time of three seconds flat. 

The Artura has joined the 750S Coupe (750 horsepower from a twin-turbo V8) in a fashion makeover by Singaporean-British designer Chelsea Scott-Blackhall.

Her Project Duality turns both cars into one-off design studies, now on display at the McLaren showroom instead of somewhere nearer Marina Bay, where the team clinched the Constructors’ title in 2025.

Nearly as fast but just as British is the Aston Martin DB12 S, from the company behind the Aston Martin Aramco F1 team. A single unit is now in Singapore for viewing, with a price tag of S$1,080,000 without COE and deliveries set to commence in the second quarter of 2027. 

Aston calls the most powerful DB12 yet a Super Tourer, which means it is built to cross continents in comfort. But with 700 horsepower, a 0 to 100 kmh time of just 3.5 seconds and a 325 kmh top speed, it probably wouldn’t do too shabbily on the track, either.

While viewings of the DB12 S are at the showroom by appointment, a smaller Aston, the Vantage S, will be at One Raffles Place at a watch party for the Singapore Grand Prix’s qualifying session.

Also on display this weekend, but at a private location and only by invitation, is Ferrari’s first electric car, the Luce. Its traction control technology borrows from Ferrari’s F1 systems and its four motors make 1,050 horsepower, which an F1 driver would find respectable. 

If you’re not on the invitation list, you will have to imagine the Luce, which is how most of us experience Ferraris anyway.

But the Testa Rossa J at Marina Bay Sands is within far easier reach. Ferrari importer Ital Auto will quote you a price on application, but in other markets the baby car lists for 93,000 euros (US$104,116). 

That might seem like a lot for something with only 16 horsepower and a top speed of just 80 kmh, but it is completely open to the elements, puts the driver mere centimetres above the ground while they twirl a big wooden steering wheel with no power assistance; most of all, it looks like the toddler of a legendary Ferrari. 

TopGear, which has driven one, dared its readers to try it without smiling. Of all the cars here, the Testa Rossa J’s links to F1 might be the most tenuous, but it could well offer more entertainment than the sport itself.