The use of commercial petrol became compulsory in place of specialised alcohol-based racing fuels. The minimum race distance was reduced to 300 kilometres or two hours. For the first time, points were withheld from shared drives, and the Manufacturers' Cup was awarded on the basis of each constructor's highest-finishing car per race. Only six results counted towards the Drivers' Championship.
Maserati had withdrawn their works team after 1957 but their 250F remained competitive in private hands. Lotus made their debut. BRM entered their first full season. Juan Manuel Fangio returned for a partial campaign before retiring after the French Grand Prix, citing that his era had passed.
The season began with back-to-back victories for rear-engined Cooper-Climax cars operated by Rob Walker Racing — first Stirling Moss in Argentina, then Maurice Trintignant at Monaco. These results demonstrated that the mid-engine layout, which would dominate Formula One from 1959 onward, was ready to compete at the highest level. The remaining eight races were largely won by the conventionally-configured Vanwall.
At the Argentine Grand Prix — reduced to just ten entrants due to teams being unprepared for the new fuel regulations — Moss won for Cooper-Climax in Rob Walker's private entry. It was simultaneously the first win for a rear-engined car in Formula One and the first by a privateer team. At Monaco, Trintignant won again for Rob Walker after Behra (BRM) led before his brakes faded and Hawthorn inherited the lead before his fuel pump failed. Both Cooper wins were scored before a major works team had run the car.
At the Dutch Grand Prix, Moss put Vanwall at the front and took the win, before Fangio made his only attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 — and failed. American Pat O'Connor died in a first-lap accident at the Indy race, won by Jimmy Bryan.
The Belgian Grand Prix saw Tony Brooks win for Vanwall with all three cars coasting across the line after mechanical failures but making the finish. The French Grand Prix brought disaster: Ferrari's Luigi Musso pushed too hard chasing Hawthorn, ran wide, and his car somersaulted. He died from head injuries later that day. Hawthorn won. At the German Grand Prix, Peter Collins suffered a nearly identical fate — running wide, encountering a ditch, and being thrown from the car. He died in hospital the same day. Collins's death prompted Hawthorn to announce his retirement at season's end.
The Portuguese Grand Prix provided the most dramatic episode of the championship fight. Moss and Hawthorn were separated by 0.05 seconds in qualifying. Moss dominated but Hawthorn's second place was initially annulled after he pushed his stalled car in the wrong direction. Moss intervened, defending his title rival to the stewards despite knowing it would cost him the championship lead, and Hawthorn's result was reinstated.
At the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari seemed set for a dominant home win until Tony Brooks drove a brilliant recovery to lead, and Hawthorn managed second with a slipping clutch. Vanwall's Phil Hill finished third on his Ferrari debut.
The Moroccan Grand Prix decided the title. Moss needed to win with Hawthorn finishing third or lower and not setting the fastest lap. Moss won comfortably but Hawthorn finished second, securing the championship by a single point. Stuart Lewis-Evans, Vanwall's third driver, crashed when his engine exploded; his burns proved fatal six days later. Tony Vandervell subsequently withdrew Vanwall from the sport.
Mike Hawthorn won the Drivers' Championship with 42 points, ahead of Stirling Moss with 41 and Tony Brooks with 24. Vanwall won the inaugural Manufacturers' Cup with 48 points over Ferrari's 40 and Cooper's 31. Hawthorn retired from racing immediately after the season; he was killed in a road accident three months later.
Moss's act of sportsmanship in defending Hawthorn to the stewards in Portugal — sacrificing his own championship advantage to ensure a fair result — is one of the most celebrated examples of fair play in the sport's history. That Hawthorn then pipped him to the title by a single point added a painful irony that Moss was gracious enough to acknowledge.
The season also featured the first race start for a female driver in a World Championship round: Maria Teresa de Filippis entered for Ferrari at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The 1958 season was a structural turning point. The victory of rear-engined Cooper-Climaxes in the first two rounds effectively ended the front-engined car's reign before it had fully played out — by 1959 and 1960 the transition was complete, with mid-engined cars winning every race. British engineering had arrived as the new force in the sport. Fangio's retirement closed the dominant story of the early championship. Four drivers died during the season, sustaining pressure on circuits and car safety that would define debate in the sport through the 1960s.