The World Championship - still being run to Formula 2 regulations - started early in 1953 with the major teams gathering in Argentina in January. Maserati had shown signs at the end of 1952 that it was going to have a competitive package in 1953 and there were four of the A6GCM chassis for Juan-Manuel Fangio (back in action after being out for most of 1952), Froilan Gonzalez, Felice Bonetto and local hero Oscar Galvez.

Ferrari had Alberto Ascari, Giuseppe Farina and Gigi Villoresi with a fourth car for its new signing Mike Hawthorn. Gordini had its usual trio of Jean Behra, Maurice Trintignant and Robert Manzon and a fourth car for Carlos Menditeguy while the Cooper Car Company made an official entry with cars for Alan Brown, John Barber and Adolfo Cruz.

Ascari, the reigning World Champion, was fastest in qualifying but Fangio was alongside him with the front row being completed by the Ferraris of Villoresi and Farina. Gonzalez, Hawthorn and Trintignant shared the second row with the third comprising of Manzon, Galvez, Menditeguy and Behra.

President Juan Peron turned up for the race and, having decreed that there would be free access to the circuit, discovered that there were far too many people to be controlled. They were lining the race track when the Grand Prix began. One of the spectators wandered onto the track, and, in order to avoid hitting him, Nino Farina was forced to swerve. Farina ultimately lost control of his car and crashed into the crowd on lap 31, killing 13 spectators. In the resulting mass panic, a boy ran in front of Brown's Cooper and was killed.

Ascari, who started from pole, led the entirety of the race, taking his seventh consecutive World Championship race victory, and, in so doing, established an early lead in the Drivers' Championship. Fangio was in second until a transmission issue forced him to retire from the race. Manzon initially inherited the position, but Villoresi ultimately took second place, a lap behind his teammate. Hawthorn had been running in third, although he was eventually overtaken by González, preventing a Ferrari 1-2-3. Hawthorn finished fourth, ahead of Gálvez, who took the final points in his first and only World Championship race.