It was driven by Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who was in his fourth year with the team, and Briton Jenson Button, who moved from Williams after his début season in 2000.

It was an unusually wide angled 112° configuration which allowed a lower centre of gravity and was notably lighter than previous engines used by Benetton from Supertec.

Fisichella would retire in San Marino and Monaco, whilst neither car finished the Austrian Grand Prix.

[17][18] After a double retirement in Canada, the team returned to the European Grand Prix with confidence in a new launch control system to be used for the first time on the B201.

[20][21] Further developments were added to the B201 ahead of the next race in France, although results did not notably improve until the German Grand Prix.

in the 6/2001 Autozeitung they found the Benetton B201 had a performance of: The livery was similar to the previous season with subtle changes on the dark blue graphics.

At the United States Grand Prix, an American flag was featured on the side of the car, in response to the September 11 attacks.

Following the conclusion of the season, Renault, who were due to formally become the replacement for Benetton in the World Championship, utilised the B201 for a number of pre-season tests.

The cars were temporarily repainted in yellow and white with black details (based on Renault's famous livery from the late 1970s and early 1980s).