First trailer for Adam Driver and Michael Mann's biopic Ferrari is one of the year's most unsettling teasers

The first trailer for Ferrari, the new motorsport biopic directed by Michael Mann, is one you won’t forget in a hurry. The unsettling, gripping trip down memory lane for Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) even offers hope that this is a film that could be in awards contention come Oscars season.

No, your audio isn’t messed up. The Ferrari trailer, which you can see above, focuses on the intense low hum of a motor engine over everything else. Throughout, various dramatic moments of the Ferrari founder’s life are laid out, including an argument with his wife Linda (Penelope Cruz) and the frenetic starting grid of the iconic Mille Miglia race across Italy.

As first looks go, it’s about as heart-stopping and pulse-pounding as they come. Plus, in a year of releases truncated by strikes and delays, there’s every chance we could be glimpsing some award-winning performances for the first time. Might Adam Driver finally get his Oscar?

The film’s synopsis reads: "It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered by the loss of their son, Dino a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi. Meanwhile, his drivers' passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia."

Ferrari is Michael Mann’s first film since 2015’s Blackhat. Also starring Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone, and Sarah Gadon, the Troy Kennedy Martin-penned biopic is set for release on December 25, 2023.

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.