Three weeks after the Monaco GP the Grand Prix teams gathered in Spa. There was no sign of BRM and so it was a straight battle between the Lancia Ferraris of Juan Manuel Fangio, Eugenio Castellotti, Peter Collins and, for the occasion, local drivers Paul Frère and André Pilette and the Maseratis of Stirling Moss, Jean Behra and Cesare Perdisa. Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell battled on with the Vanwalls but there were no Gordinis.

Fangio was fastest in qualifying by an impressive five seconds with Moss and Collins alongside him on the front row. Behind them were Behra and Castellotti while Schell, Trintignant and Frère completed row three.

With such a big advantage was expected to dominate but he made a poor start in rainy conditions, leaving Moss to lead Castellotti, Collins and Behra. Fangio worked his way to second place by lap three and was ahead of Moss two laps later. The track began to dry and Fangio began to extend the lead. Soon afterwards Moss lost a wheel on the run up the hill after Eau Rouge corner. Fortunately the car did not hit anything and Moss was able to hurry back to the pits and take over Perdisa's car. Castellotti disappeared not long afterwards with a mechanical problem and so Moss found himself in sixth place. Fangio and Collins remained untroubled at the front with the gap between them being around half a minute. At two-thirds distance, however, Fangio's transmission broke. At the same time Behra's engine lost its edge and he dropped back quickly leaving Frère in second place, while Moss (in Perdisa's car) was now third, having passed Schell's Vanwall. The gap was too great to be closed and so Collins won his first Grand Prix with Frère a creditable second and Moss third.