The car was designed by Gustav Brunner and was driven for most of the season by German Manfred Winkelhock.

He was joined in a second car late in the season by Formula One rookie, Austrian driver Gerhard Berger.

Early in the season, the D7 with its powerful turbocharged BMW engine, showed surprising speed, if not reliability.

Winkelhock qualified sixth at Zolder for the Belgian Grand Prix and early in the race ran confidently in fourth place behind the Ferraris of Michele Alboreto and René Arnoux and the Renault of Derek Warwick before exhaust failure put him out on lap 39.

Following the season BMW stopped supplying the team with its engines due to the lack of results and bad publicity team owner Günter Schmid had gained for his pit lane antics.