Martensitic steel with different ferrite content and distribution was firstly fabricated by heat treatment. Then, the effects of ferrite content and distribution on the microstructure and properties of such ultra-high strength martensitic steel with yield strength more than 1 100 MPa was explored based on microstructure characterization and mechanical property tests. The microstructure evolution and strengthening and toughening mechanism were also analyzed. The results show that with a small amount of ferrite uniformly distributed in the martensite matrix, the steel sample in the experiment can exhibit not only ultra-high yield strength (1 245.44 MPa) and tensile strength (1 411.96 MPa), but also higher impact energy (80 J) at low temperature, presenting the optimal comprehensive mechanical properties. A small amount of ferrite in the local area continuously distributed along the rolling direction can slightly improve the tensile strength, but the unevenly distributed ferrite can improve the stress concentration and reduce the toughness. An increase in the content of continuously distributed ferrite can improve the tensile strength, but the formation of banded martensite and improved stress concentration make the toughness of the steel sample in the experiment substantially reduced.