The season-long battle between Lancia Ferrari and Maserati continued at the German GP with no Vanwalls nor BRMs to disrupt the fight as they had at Silverstone. Gordini was there but the fastest (driven by Robert Manzon) was two a lap slower than Juan Manuel Fangio's Lancia Ferrari. Alongside him on the front row were his team mates Peter Collins and Eugenio Castelotti and Maserati's Stirling Moss. The second row featured Luigi Musso's Lancia Ferrari and Umberto Maglioli in the second Maserati.

At the start Collins went into the lead but by the end of the first lap Fangio was ahead with Collins second and Moss giving chase. But while Lancia Ferrari seemed to be in total control Collins was in trouble with fumes leaking into his cockpit and he retired when it was discovered that a fuel line was split. This left Fangio out by himself, setting new lap records while Moss did what he could to keep up. Collins recovered from his dizziness and took over De Portago's car and set off in pursuit of third-placed Behra. The Frenchman was forced to stop when a strap broke on his car so Collins was back in third until he spun off, having made a rare mistake.

Fangio finished 45 seconds ahead of Moss who was seven minutes ahead of Behra.