The 020 was driven by Satoru Nakajima who brought the Honda engine contract with him and also by Stefano Modena. Its best result was a second place by Modena in the Canadian Grand Prix. Tyrrell scored 12 points to finish 6th in the Constructors' Championship with half the points scored by Modena's 2nd in Canada.
The car was powered by the 690 bhp (515 kW; 700 PS) Honda RA101E V10 engine previously raced by McLaren in 1990 and maintained by Mugen Motorsports, which would run Mugen-Honda badged engines the following year for Footwork Arrows.
1992
The car was updated for the 1992 season and was dubbed the 020B. For this season the Honda V10 was replaced with the 680 bhp (507 kW; 689 PS) Ilmor LH10 V10 engine and was driven by Olivier Grouillard and veteran Andrea de Cesaris. The team only scored 8 points for the season but again finished in 6th place.
1993
The 020 was pressed into service again for the first nine races of the 1993 season. Again updated it was called the 020C. For the third time in three years the car ran a V10 engine but this time it carried the 690 bhp (515 kW; 700 PS) Yamaha OX10A.[4] It was driven again by De Cesaris who was joined by Japanese driver Ukyo Katayama. Neither driver would score a World Championship point driving the car.
The Tyrrell 020C was replaced by the 021 midway through the 1993 season.