The car passed its crash test in January 2020, which was conducted at Cranfield Impact Centre in Bedfordshire, England, and allowed its homologation with the FIA.

Racing Point's technical director Andrew Green stated that the car "shares some resemblances in some areas" but denied that there had been a transfer of designs between the teams.

[8] The design caused controversy amongst other teams, with McLaren CEO Zak Brown referring to the RP20 as "what appears to be last year's Mercedes" prior to the season opening Austrian Grand Prix.

[9] After the Styrian Grand Prix, Renault lodged a formal protest against the legality of the RP20, suggesting its brake ducts (a part teams must design themselves) may be too similar to the Mercedes W10's.

At the Eifel Grand Prix, Lance Stroll was unable to participate in qualifying and the race due to having tested positive for coronavirus.

At the Turkish Grand Prix, Stroll achieved the team's first ever pole position, with teammate Pérez qualifying third.

Pérez came close to taking the team's third podium finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix, but a late engine failure in lap 54 forced him to retire.