The C4B made its only appearance at the season-opening South African Grand Prix, at which Andrea Moda Formula was excluded for not having paid the registration fee for the championship and for not having entered a car they had constructed themselves.

At the season-opening 1991 United States Grand Prix, Chaves posted a faster time than Olivier Grouillard and Eric van de Poele, but crashed into a tyre wall during the session.

Team owner Sassetti attempted to develop the C4 while waiting for the Andrea Moda S921, the finalisation of which was entrusted to the British engineering consultancy firm, Simtek, ready for the start of the European season in Spain.

[14] Andrea Moda brought the C4B to the inaugural event of the 1992 season, the South African Grand Prix, held between 28 February and 1 March 1992.

[15] On Thursday morning, during the session in which a driver from each team had to take part, Caffi managed only half a lap before encountering a battery problem which ended his day; Bertaggia did not participate in the meeting as only one car was operational.

However, the governing body of Formula One found that the company that Sassetti bought from Coloni was not the one which constructed World Championship cars.

[2][17][18][16][19] Sassetti, however, maintained that his team should be considered the successor of Coloni and not a newcomer to the sport (so that they could legally use an old chassis and not pay the registration fees to FISA).

[2][19] Two days after the exclusion in South Africa and having initially considered closing his team operation, Sassetti at last came to an agreement with FISA.

[19] Sassetti then asked Simtek, which was preparing the upcoming Andrea Moda S921, to accelerate its work to develop the new car so that it could be entered in the Mexican Grand Prix.

This was to be held three weeks after the South African round and the team otherwise faced a fine from FISA for non-presentation of its cars in the early races of the season.