With Alfa Romeo having withdrawn at the end of 1951 and BRM unable to produce a competitive car, the national organising clubs feared championship races would attract dangerously small fields under full Formula One regulations. They responded by switching the championship — except the Indianapolis 500, which continued under American rules — to Formula Two specifications: naturally aspirated engines of up to 2.0 litres or supercharged units up to 750cc. The maximum displacement was effectively halved compared to the previous year.
This change opened the door to a broader range of constructors. AFM, Alta, Aston Butterworth, Connaught, Cooper, Frazer Nash, Veritas, and several German teams entered races under the new formula, creating more varied fields. Racing helmets were made mandatory for the first time. The Dutch Grand Prix was added to the championship calendar, and the French Grand Prix moved from Reims-Gueux to Rouen-Les-Essarts.
The defending champion, Juan Manuel Fangio, had moved to BRM for 1952 but suffered a serious injury at the non-championship Monza Grand Prix early in the season, breaking his neck after crashing. He spent the remainder of the year recovering in Argentina, leaving the championship open for his rivals to contest. Without Fangio, the season became a contest between Ascari and his Scuderia Ferrari teammates.
Alberto Ascari produced one of the most complete championship campaigns in early Formula One history. He was absent for the opening round in Switzerland, where Piero Taruffi won for Ferrari, and for the Indianapolis 500, where the race was won by Troy Ruttman in a Kurtis Kraft. In the five remaining championship rounds — Belgium, France, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands — Ascari won all five, in most cases from pole position while also setting the fastest lap. His winning margins were often substantial.
The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps saw Ascari take pole, victory, and fastest lap while leading every lap bar one. At Rouen for the French Grand Prix, Ascari led from start to finish, achieving his fourth career victory. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone saw Mike Hawthorn take his first podium in a Cooper-Bristol, an early sign of British talent and machinery beginning to emerge. At the Nürburgring, Ascari clinched his first World Championship title, locking out the German round alongside Farina, Fischer, and Taruffi to produce a near-complete Ferrari sweep.
The Dutch Grand Prix followed a familiar pattern: Ascari from pole, Ascari victorious, Ascari setting the fastest lap and leading every lap. With this fifth consecutive Grand Prix victory, Ascari surpassed Fangio as the winningest Formula One driver to that point. Ferrari completed the Dutch podium with Farina and Villoresi.
The Italian Grand Prix at Monza concluded the season, with Ascari again winning from pole, González taking second for Maserati — the only non-Ferrari podium finisher in the championship outside of the Indianapolis round — and Villoresi third.
Maserati had been developing their A6GCM chassis to comply with the Formula Two regulations but did not have it ready until the final championship round. Their delayed entry cost them any chance of a championship challenge, though González's second place in Italy demonstrated the car had competitive potential for 1953.
Ascari won the championship with 36 points, which was the maximum possible given the best-four-results scoring rule. Farina finished second with 24 points, and Piero Taruffi third with 22. Points were awarded to the top five finishers on an 8-6-4-3-2 scale with a bonus point for the fastest lap, with only the best four results from eight rounds counting.
The 1952 season highlighted both the effectiveness and the limitations of formula changes as a field-widening measure. Ferrari's dominance under the new regulations was, if anything, more complete than Alfa Romeo's had been in 1950, as Ascari's six wins in seven starts demonstrated. The season also reinforced the championship's structural oddity of the Indianapolis 500 — a race effectively disconnected from the European championship in terms of competitors and regulations — which would continue until 1960. Ascari's 1952 title was the first of two consecutive championships for the Italian driver and Ferrari.