A change in fuel regulations banning alcohol and methanol meant that British teams Vanwall and BRM would not have their re-tuned engines ready in time for the long trip to Argentina, held four months ahead of the next race at Monaco. As a result, the race attracted only ten entries — the fewest of any Grand Prix in the history of the F1 World Championship. Vanwall released Stirling Moss to compete with another team, and he joined the Rob Walker Racing Team to drive their Cooper T43-Climax, a car about to be superseded at the factory Cooper team by the new T45.
With the race set to be held in very hot conditions, the distance was shortened from 400 kilometres to 313. The shorter race led the Walker team to consider running without a tyre stop. The car's four-stud wheels would require almost two laps' worth of time to complete a four-tyre change — far slower than the Ferrari and Maserati rivals with centerlock wheels. Moss and his team began a deception, publicly complaining about the tyre situation and the time a change would cost them.
Jean Behra in a privateer Maserati 250F led at the start but was quickly passed by Mike Hawthorn. By lap ten Juan Manuel Fangio had taken the lead in the Scuderia Sud Americana-entered Maserati 250F, with Moss having worked his way forward into second position as pitstops began for the heavier Italian-built cars.
After the pitstops, Moss led from Luigi Musso and Hawthorn. Behra was delayed by a spin and Fangio by a misfire. With ten laps remaining the other teams realised Moss was not going to pit at all, and Musso and Hawthorn increased their pace to give chase. Moss's tyres were disintegrating, but with careful driving he held on to win by 2.7 seconds over Musso (Ferrari 246 F1), with Hawthorn (Ferrari 246 F1) third. Fangio was the first Maserati to finish; Behra, two laps down, scored the remaining points. Harry Schell finished next ahead of Fangio's teammate Carlos Menditeguy, both in Maserati 250Fs. Peter Collins was the only retirement among the ten entries, stopping on the opening lap with a broken axle in the third Ferrari.
The victory was the first World Drivers' Championship race win for Cooper as a constructor, the first win for a rear-mid-engined car in Formula One (the first in a Grand Prix since the Auto Union racing cars of the 1930s), the first F1 win for a privately-entered car, the first win for a car powered by another manufacturer's engine, and the first win for a British car in blue livery, deviating from the traditional green used by British teams. Moss took his seventh Grand Prix victory.
The win for a rear-engined car was at the time considered an aberration brought on by hot weather and tactical advantage. It was not yet apparent that the front-engined Formula One car would be superseded within a year — 1958 was the last year a driver won the World Championship with one.
Juan Manuel Fangio's pole position was his 29th, setting a new record that would only be broken by Jim Clark at the 1967 Canadian Grand Prix. Fangio's fastest lap was his 23rd, a record equally broken by Clark at the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix.
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