The M186 was introduced partway through the 1986 Formula One season, at the Hungarian Grand Prix and was only raced by Andrea de Cesaris. His teammate Alessandro Nannini continued to campaign the M185B with which de Cesaris had started the year.

The M186 was marginally better in qualifying than the M185B, and it had a best qualifying position of 11th, in the Australian Grand Prix, the team's best grid placing in its history at the time. However, like the M185B, the car was very unreliable and only finished one race, an eighth place at the Mexican Grand Prix. This was also de Cesaris' only finish of the year.