The team's roots lay in the Coloni F1 operation, which Sassetti purchased in September 1991 after Coloni had failed to pre-qualify for every race that year. Coloni's four-year history yielded just 14 race starts from 82 attempts, with the outfit having last competed at the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix. Sassetti hired a number of former Coloni staff and sought a deal with Simtek to use a chassis originally designed in 1990 for BMW. Renamed the Andrea Moda S921, the car was fitted with Judd V10 engines, though the cars were not ready in time for the start of the 1992 season.
At the season-opening South African Grand Prix, Sassetti arrived with a modified Coloni C4B chassis for drivers Alex Caffi and Enrico Bertaggia. The team was excluded from the event for failing to pay the required $100,000 deposit for new entrants. Sassetti argued the team was not new because he had taken over Coloni, but since he had not purchased Coloni's championship entry along with the team assets, the FIA was unmoved. In Mexico, the equipment arrived but the cars were still being assembled and neither ran.
Following these debacles, both Caffi and Bertaggia were dropped after publicly criticising the team's organisation. For the Brazilian Grand Prix, Sassetti nominated Roberto Moreno — an experienced driver who had previously raced for the team's Coloni predecessor — and British newcomer Perry McCarthy, who had tested for Williams and would later gain fame as The Stig on the BBC programme Top Gear. McCarthy was denied a Super Licence and could not run. He finally received his licence for the Spanish round, but the car expired before leaving the pitlane.
The team's sole qualifying appearance came at the Monaco Grand Prix, where Moreno successfully navigated both pre-qualifying and qualifying to start 26th on the grid. He retired after 11 laps with an engine failure. McCarthy's car, meanwhile, set an infamous pre-qualifying time of 17:05.924 — the slowest recorded in the pre-qualifying era — which has become one of the most notorious entries in Formula One statistics.
The season unravelled further at the Canadian Grand Prix, when Sassetti failed to pay the Judd engine supplier and the team had to borrow a unit from Brabham simply to allow Moreno to attempt a few laps. The French Grand Prix was missed entirely because the team's truck became stuck in a blockade by French truck drivers, an obstacle every other team successfully negotiated. Several sponsors withdrew at this point, leaving Sassetti to fund the operation personally.
McCarthy's treatment deteriorated as the season wore on. At his home British Grand Prix he was sent out on wet-weather tyres on a dry track. At the Hungaroring he was released from the pitlane just 45 seconds before the end of the pre-qualifying session, making a competitive lap time impossible. The FIA warned the team to make a genuine attempt to run a second car or face exclusion.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, both Andrea Moda cars were granted automatic entry into qualifying after Brabham's withdrawal reduced the field to 30 cars, eliminating the need for a pre-qualifying session. Moreno qualified 13 per cent slower than pole position, McCarthy — who suffered an accident — 22 per cent slower; neither made the race. During the same weekend, Sassetti was arrested in the paddock on allegations of forging automotive part invoices.
On 8 September 1992, the FIA World Motor Sport Council expelled Andrea Moda Formula from the remainder of the season on the grounds of failing to operate a team in a manner compatible with the standards of the championship and of bringing the championship into disrepute. The team was subsequently denied entry to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix. The Andrea Moda name later appeared in CART racing, sponsoring the Euromotorsport team in 1993.
Andrea Moda Formula occupies a singular position in Formula One history as the team statistically considered the worst constructor ever to enter the championship. Perry McCarthy's 17:05.924 Monaco pre-qualifying time remains a defining emblem of the season, and the story of the team's chaotic management, missed payments, driver disputes, and FIA confrontations has been recounted in motorsport journalism for decades. In October 2023, a docufilm titled Last and Furious — The True Story of the Andrea Moda Formula was presented at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, cementing the team's enduring notoriety.