The 12-cylinder Ferrari Testarossa that everyone knows and adores debuted in 1984, selling stateside for about $100,000. When one became Detective Sonny Crockett’s ride in the third season of Miami Vice, it was instantly transformed into the car that defined its decade. With a name that translates to “redhead,” a nod to the engine’s paint scheme, the model made an impressive 385 hp when it arrived, though it was framed less as a supercar than a fast, stylish grand tourer.

Ferrari’s new 849 Testarossa, unveiled in September and expecting first customer deliveries in the second quarter of this year, is a completely different beast. This Prancing Horse is a plug-in hybrid with 1,036 hp, a starting price of $560,685, and an appetite for the track. Replacing the SF90 Stradale while adding 49 hp, it now sits near the top of Ferrari’s road-car lineup, below the F80 but above the 296, 12Cilindri, and Amalfi. It also features what Ferrari calls the most powerful eight-cylinder engine in its history. In other words, the latest Testarossa makes Crockett’s coupe seem like an underpowered police cruiser.

When it was time for Robb Report to get behind the wheel at the Circuito Monteblanco in southern Spain, rain was falling hard. I took to the track anyway, starting in Wet mode. I could feel the car dialing back power to hunt for grip. Before long, I switched to Sport, unleashing the full grunt of the 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 and its three electric motors to push a car that feels lighter than its 3,461-pound dry weight would suggest.

In Sport, power delivery was more genial than jolting. With so much output on tap in every gear, the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission—with a fully electric reverse gear—seemed less inclined to downshift, even when what I was looking for was a kick in the pants. Through corners, the 849’s rear stayed planted, almost no matter how hard I pushed.

Somehow the car found more grip at eight-tenths, an impressive level of stickiness in those conditions, helped by Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires. Later, on the winding hills of Andalusia, the vehicle proved itself an agile grand tourer, stopping onlookers in their tracks much the way the original Testarossa still does.

Ferrari says the 849 Testarossa ranks among the most complicated models the marque has built, largely because of the hybrid setup. Take the brake-by-wire system, which blends the disc brakes’ stopping power with the 849’s regenerative braking to reduce jerk, prevent lockup, and maximize performance.

On top of that, engineers had to make the brake-pedal action itself feel just right. The bodywork posed its own challenges, including the doors, which the marque claims are the most three-dimensionally sculpted it has ever made. In the rear, an active wing contributes to the nearly 915 pounds of total downforce generated at a little over 155 mph. It’s paired with twin tails inspired by Ferrari’s 512 S, which beat Steve McQueen’s Porsche 908 at the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring.

Inside, the cockpit is minimalist and takes cues from the F80. Ferrari has reintroduced a mechanical start button and provides the driver with a single screen behind the wheel (with integrated Apple CarPlay, of course). As for the passenger, they get their own 9-inch display. The overall interior aesthetic feels more austere than luxurious, bordering on utilitarian.

The headlights are similarly restrained. They don’t pop up as they did in the ’80s, but they’re shaped to hint that they might, one of the few direct allusions to the classic. Another is the signature red-hued engine. Still, the real mission isn’t nostalgia, but rather speed, enough to take on Germany’s Nürburgring—the automotive world’s proving ground—and look good doing it. Who knows? Maybe the 849 Testarossa will become an icon just in time for Crockett to take it for a spin in the upcoming remake of Miami Vice—or maybe Tubbs will finally get a turn.

Top: A 1,036 hp plug-in hybrid, the Ferrari 849 Testarossa takes to the track at Circuito Monteblanco in southern Spain.