Ferrari’s chief technology officer, Michael Leiters, has revealed that the carmaker’s new limited-edition hypercar – a replacement for the LaFerrari – is three to five years away from launch.

He added that Ferrari is currently updating its research and development strategy for the medium term and the LaFerrari’s replacement will be born from fresh innovations.

“When we define our new roadmap of technology and innovation, we will then consider a replacement for LaFerrari,” said Leiters.

“We want to do something different. It won’t be a road car with a Formula 1 engine because, to be realistic, it would need to idle at 2,500-3,000rpm and rev to 16,000rpm. The F50 used an F1 engine, but it needed to be changed a lot,” he said of the limited-edition successor to the F40.

At the time, Ferrari made much of the fact that the F50 was a serious attempt to harness as much Formula 1 technology as possible. From Leiters’ muted enthusiasm for this approach, it is assumed he won’t be advocating a hypercar that attempts to recreate the F1 dynamic experience, given the need to comply with regulations and for the car to be usable.

“The roadmap will be finished in about six months,” he said. “So my guess is that we could be three to five years away from a new limited-edition hypercar. Part of the plan is to ensure that the technology used in the next hypercar can be cascaded through the rest of the range.”