The third World Championship of Drivers had originally been scheduled to run under established Formula One regulations. However, organising clubs feared that the cost and technical demands of full Formula One machinery would result in too few competitive entries. They collectively decided to run their rounds as Formula Two races, capping engine displacement at 2.0 litres for naturally aspirated engines and 750 cc for supercharged units. The Indianapolis 500, counted toward the championship as it had been since 1950, continued under its own American regulations and had little bearing on the European title fight. The switch also opened the championship to a far wider group of constructors than had previously competed, including AFM, Alta, Aston Butterworth, Connaught, Cooper, Frazer Nash, Veritas, and several German teams making their only championship appearance at the Nurburgring round.
The championship ran over eight rounds between 18 May and 7 September 1952. Alfa Romeo, who had dominated the previous two seasons, withdrew entirely, unable to fund a new car compliant with the new formula. Reigning champion Juan Manuel Fangio moved to BRM, but his season effectively ended before it began: while waiting for BRM to ready their car he contested a non-championship race at Monza, suffered a broken neck in a crash, and spent the remainder of the year recovering in Argentina.
With Fangio absent, the championship fell almost entirely into the hands of Scuderia Ferrari and their lead driver Alberto Ascari. Ferrari's 500 F2 was the outstanding car of the season. Ascari started from pole position in six of the seven championship rounds he entered, led nearly every lap he was on track, and won six of those seven races. His only defeat came at the opening round in Switzerland, where he was absent due to his Indianapolis 500 appearance; in his place, teammate Piero Taruffi took the win.
The eight rounds were the Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten, the Indianapolis 500, the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, the French Grand Prix at Rouen-Les-Essarts (moved that year from its usual Reims-Gueux venue), the British Grand Prix, the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, and the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. A Spanish Grand Prix had been scheduled for October but was cancelled for financial reasons.
Ferrari dominated the results sheet throughout. Nino Farina, the 1950 world champion, was Ascari's principal teammate and finished second in the championship standings. Robert Manzon and Jean Behra represented Gordini with consistency but lacked the pace to challenge Ferrari outright. Maserati did not appear until the German Grand Prix, still completing work on their A6GCM chassis; José Froilan Gonzalez drove for them at the final round and finished second.
Stirling Moss and other British drivers competed with HWM, Cooper-Bristol, ERA, and Frazer Nash machinery. Mike Hawthorn drew attention at the British Grand Prix by taking his first championship podium in a Cooper-Bristol, signalling the arrival of a future champion. Cooper, operating from small workshops in Surbiton, earned their first ever championship point at that same race.
Ascari clinched the title at the German Grand Prix, his fourth consecutive victory of the season, equalling the win record of the still-absent Fangio. He went on to win the Dutch Grand Prix for a fifth consecutive victory, at which point his championship total of 36 points was unassailable. He finished the year with six wins from seven starts in championship rounds, a winning ratio that has rarely been approached in the decades since.
At the Dutch round, Ascari surpassed Fangio as the highest race-winner in Formula One history to that point, a record Fangio would reclaim in 1955.
Points were awarded to the top five classified finishers, with one additional point for fastest lap regardless of finishing position. Only the best four results counted toward each driver's championship total. Shared drives — where two drivers split a single car during a race — earned half points apiece. The combined effect of the best-four-results rule and Ascari's consistent pole-to-finish performances meant the championship was settled with two rounds remaining.
The 1952 season is remembered primarily as the canvas for Ascari's masterclass and as the year Alfa Romeo's era of dominance gave way to Ferrari's. The decision to run under Formula Two rules was a one-off; championship organisers repeated it in 1953, before reverting to full Formula One regulations for 1954 with the introduction of the 2.5-litre formula. The season also accelerated the development of smaller British constructors who would go on to reshape the sport in the following decade.