The film follows automotive designer Carroll Shelby and his English driver Ken Miles, hired by Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca to build a race car capable of defeating Scuderia Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In 1963, Ford Motor Company vice president Lee Iacocca proposes purchasing Ferrari to boost car sales. Enzo Ferrari uses Ford's offer to secure a deal with Fiat, retaining control of his racing team and insulting Ford in the process. Henry Ford II orders his racing division to build a car to beat Ferrari at Le Mans, with Iacocca hiring Carroll Shelby — a retired driver who won Le Mans in 1959. Shelby enlists Ken Miles, a hot-tempered English racing driver and mechanical engineer.
Shelby and Miles develop the Ford GT40 Mk I prototype at Los Angeles International Airport. At the launch of the new Ford Mustang, Miles gives a critical appraisal of it to Ford senior vice president Leo Beebe, who campaigns against sending Miles to Le Mans as a public relations liability. Shelby reluctantly sends Phil Hill and Bruce McLaren instead; none of the Fords finish. Miles, listening on the radio, correctly identifies all the car's flaws.
Ford questions whether to dismiss Shelby, who explains that despite the GT40's reliability problems, it reached 218 mph on the Mulsanne Straight, instilling fear in Enzo Ferrari. He argues a race car cannot be designed by committee. Ford allows the project to continue. During testing of the GT40 Mk II, brake fade causes a crash and fire, which Miles survives; the team realizes race regulations permit replacing the entire brake assembly during a race.
In 1966, Beebe takes over the racing division. Shelby secures a wager with Ford: if Miles wins the 24 Hours of Daytona, he will race at Le Mans. At Daytona International Speedway, Beebe enters a second GT40 supported by a NASCAR team, but Miles wins by pushing beyond the 7,000 RPM redline.
At Le Mans, Miles struggles with a faulty door on the opening lap, which the crew fixes. He then sets lap records catching the Ferraris. Brake fade while dueling with Lorenzo Bandini in a Ferrari 330 P3 prototype forces Miles to pit for a full brake replacement; Ferrari protests, but Shelby confirms its legality to race officials. Miles and Bandini continue their duel until Bandini's Ferrari breaks down.
With Fords in the top three positions, Beebe orders a staged photo finish. Shelby relays the instruction to Miles, who initially continues setting lap records before complying on the final lap. Bruce McLaren is declared the winner — having started further back, his car traveled farther overall. Miles is placed second. Shelby accuses Beebe of deliberately costing Miles the win; Miles accepts the outcome, telling Shelby: "You promised me the drive, not the win." Enzo Ferrari tips his hat to Miles on the track.
Two months later, Miles is killed in a crash while testing the J-car at Riverside International Raceway. Six months later, Shelby visits Miles's widow Mollie and speaks with their son Peter, giving him a wrench Miles once threw at him in anger. A textual epilogue notes Ford continued its Le Mans winning streak in 1967, 1968, and 1969, and that Miles was posthumously inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2001.
A film based on the Ford–Ferrari rivalry at Le Mans had long been in development at 20th Century Fox under the title Go Like Hell, based on the book Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by A. J. Baime, with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt initially attached. After writers Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth drafted a new script and Joseph Kosinski was brought on to direct, the project collapsed over budget concerns; Cruise also departed, citing insufficient driving in the role.
James Mangold was announced as director on February 5, 2018. Caitríona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, and Noah Jupe later joined Christian Bale and Matt Damon in the lead roles. Tracy Letts was cast as Henry Ford II; JJ Feild was cast as automotive engineer Roy Lunn, head of Ford Advanced Vehicle Operations in England. Composer Marco Beltrami scored the film, having previously collaborated with Mangold on 3:10 to Yuma, The Wolverine, and Logan.
Filming ran 67 days beginning July 30, 2018, across California, New Orleans, Atlanta, Savannah, Statesboro, and Le Mans, France. Race scenes presenting Daytona were filmed at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana; other race sequences used a Honda test track in Mojave Valley, Willow Springs International Raceway, Road Atlanta, and the Porsche Experience in Carson. The Le Mans grandstands, pits, and garages were replicated at Agua Dulce Airpark. The development hangar scenes were filmed at Ontario International Airport.
Ford v Ferrari premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2019, and was released in the United States on November 15, 2019. It grossed $117.6 million in the United States and Canada and $107.9 million in other territories, totaling $225.5 million worldwide. Its opening weekend earned $31.5 million from 3,528 theaters, topping the box office.
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 92% approval rating based on 364 reviews. Metacritic assigned it a weighted average of 81 out of 100. CinemaScore audiences gave it a rare grade of "A+". At the 92nd Academy Awards the film received four nominations including Best Picture, winning Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing. Christian Bale received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Drama and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.
Edsel Ford II, Henry Ford II's son and a former director of Ford, publicly expressed displeasure with the portrayal of his father. In 2025, The Hollywood Reporter listed Ford v Ferrari as having the best stunts of 2019.
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