The battle between Ferrari and Vanwall continued at Monza with both teams trying new developments. Ferrari had four cars for Mike Hawthorn, Wolfgang von Trips, Olivier Gendebien and promoted Formula 2 driver Phil Hill. Vanwall ran the usual trio of Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans while BRM expanded to three cars for the occasion with Jo Bonnier joining regular drivers Jean Behra and Harry Schell. The Coopers, Maseratis and Lotuses were not competitive on the fast Monza circuit.

Moss was fastest in practice with Brooks, Hawthorn and Lewis-Evans alongside him on the front row. Behind them came Gendebien, von Trips and Phil Hill, while all three BRMs were on row three alongside the Maserati 250F of Masten Gregory.

The race saw Phil Hill grab second place behind Moss at the first corner and later in the lap he took the lead. Further back von Trips tangled with Schell and the Ferrari flew into the air and crashed. von Trips was thrown out and suffered a broken leg. Schell's car also had a spectacular accident but the American was not hurt.

Hill continued to lead until the fifth lap when Hawthorn overtook him, having passed Lewis-Evans and Moss. Hill also slipped behind Moss and slipped backwards with tyre trouble while Moss and Hawthorn fought for the lead. The battle was not settled until Moss had gearbox trouble and began to drop away, leaving Hawthorn in control. Behra was second with Lewis-Evans behind him but Brooks was beginning to move up after an early stop to have his oil checked. There was a high rate of attrition with Behra, Lewis-Evans and Maurice Trintignant (Cooper) also going out and when Hawthorn stopped for new tyre Phil Hill went back into the lead. He soon stopped for tyres and so Hawthorn was back in the lead but now Brooks was second and closing in fast, With 10 laps to go the Vanwall driver slipstreamed into the lead and went on to win. Hawthorn was second, consolidating his lead in the World Championship, while Hill come home a creditable third.