Start Your Engines: Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz’s High-Octane Racing Drama Hits Netflix Today

If you fancy watching Adam Driver tear up the screen as an Italian racecar legend—and who doesn’t, frankly—there’s good news. Michael Mann’s Ferrari, the long-awaited biopic about Enzo Ferrari himself, has just landed on Netflix. That’s right, you can now stream a two-hour high-octane blend of marital drama and vintage motorsport from the comfort of your sofa.

Behind the Wheel: Who Made This?

This isn’t just another quick cash-in biopic either. Ferrari comes with a heavy-hitting pedigree. Mann directs (his first feature in donkey’s years), and he co-wrote the script with Troy Kennedy Martin. The story’s actually based on Brock Yates’ rather hefty 1991 biography Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races—so it’s real-life drama, not just soapy invention.

What’s the Cast Lineup?

Here’s the core starting grid:

• Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari (if you need a brooding, obsessed genius, he’s your man)
• Penélope Cruz as Laura Ferrari – honest-to-god scene-stealer as Enzo’s formidable wife
• Shailene Woodley and Gabriel Leone in key supporting roles
• Plus appearances from Sarah Gadon, Jack O'Connell, Patrick Dempsey, Lino Musella, and Ben Collins (yes, actual Stig, Top Gear fans)

What’s the Story?

Set in the sweltering summer of 1957, the movie drops in on Enzo Ferrari while practically everything in his life is coming apart at the seams. We’re talking a once-groundbreaking car company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, a marriage full of heartbreak (and drama about secret children), and a bold roll of the dice at the legendary Mille Miglia—a thousand-mile race across Italy that’s as mad as it sounds.

The official synopsis, which does a good job of setting the mood:

"It’s the summer of 1957. Ex-racecar driver, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis. All the dramatic forces of his life – as volatile as the red race cars he builds – are in collision. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another. The passionate instigator of men inspires his Spring Team of drivers, some like surrogate sons. He blunts a hostile press with strafing wit and boldly strategizes to roll the dice on one race — 1,000 miles across Italy, the infamous Mille Miglia. As the red cars slam through towns and mountain passes towards unpredictable outcomes, the future of these vivid characters’ lives is being written."

How Did It Go Down?

You’d think a film about speed, scandal, and marital breakdown, directed by Michael Mann and starring two Oscar-level leads, would be a dead cert for box office gold. Not quite. Ferrari reportedly cost a whopping $95 million to make, but raked in only about $43 million worldwide on its original 2023 cinema run — not great.

But here’s a thing: critics didn’t actually savage it. The film sits at a solid 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, so while it wasn’t exactly adored, there’s plenty of praise out there, especially for the performances (and, of course, the cars).

Worth a Watch?

If you’re the sort who’d watch Michael Mann film a phonebook, or just have a weird fixation with legendary carmakers and mid-century Italian drama, Ferrari should be on your list. Even if it bombed at the box office, it brings together a hell of a cast and some truly wild real-life stories. Grab it on Netflix now. No need to wade through petrol fumes at your local multiplex.