The P201 represented a significant departure from the curvy "Coke-bottle" aerodynamic profiles favoured by chief designer Tony Southgate on previous BRM cars. Mike Pilbeam's design used a pyramidal monocoque cross-section that was unconventional by contemporary standards. Hip-level radiators altered the car's silhouette and inboard front brakes were intended to reduce unsprung mass, though the car also experimented with outboard front disc arrangements during the 1974 season.
The P201 made its race debut at the 1974 South African Grand Prix, driven by Jean-Pierre Beltoise. Starting from eleventh on the grid but benefiting from tyre selection that suited the car's handling, Beltoise drove through the field to finish second — the P201's best-ever result and one that masked significant underlying problems with the programme's competitiveness.
As the season progressed, BRM fielded multiple P201 chassis alongside older P160s, with Beltoise accompanied at various races by Henri Pescarolo, François Migault, and late in the year by Chris Amon, whose own team had folded. Results were generally poor. Reliability was the persistent issue, with engine failures and gearbox problems accounting for the majority of retirements. At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, four chassis were entered simultaneously, with Beltoise, Migault, and Pescarolo all retiring within the first four laps. At the Canadian Grand Prix, both classified finishers from BRM ended up laps behind the leaders and were not officially classified.
Beltoise retired from Formula One at the end of 1974, and Pescarolo departed the team. For 1975 BRM entered only single cars at eleven of the fifteen rounds. Mike Wilds drove the opening two races at Argentina and Brazil, qualifying twenty-second at both and retiring from each with mechanical failures. He was replaced by Bob Evans from the South African Grand Prix onward. Evans managed a ninth-place finish in Belgium and a thirteenth in Sweden but was generally unclassified or retired throughout the year. At the British and German Grands Prix BRM did not appear, citing the V12 engine's lack of competitiveness against the dominant Cosworth DFV-powered cars.
In P201B specification the car made only token appearances late in the programme's life. Ian Ashley drove a P201B at the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix, qualifying twenty-first and retiring early with oil pump failure. BRM's attempts to compete in 1977 with the new P207 were unsuccessful, that car qualifying only once. Australian Larry Perkins drove a P201/04 at the 1977 South African Grand Prix, qualifying twenty-second and finishing fifteenth, five laps behind winner Niki Lauda. This was effectively the final appearance of P201 machinery in competition.
Of the five P201 chassis constructed, four survive, and three have been seen in historic racing events.
The P201 arrived as BRM's financial support from the Owen Organisation was fading and as the team transitioned to operation under Louis Stanley. Its debut second-place finish flattered the car's true position in the competitive order. BRM had already missed a generation of development following the departure of key engineers including Tony Rudd and Geoff Johnson, and the DFV era had consolidated power among better-funded privateer and works teams. The P201 was the last BRM chassis to achieve a points-scoring result in the World Championship, making it the final chapter of a constructor that had won seventeen grands prix across more than two decades of competition.