The first race of the season was in January at the Buenos Aires Autodrome in Argentina's capital city. Briton Moss took pole ahead of Fangio, ahead of Behra, and Ferrari drivers Castellotti, Collins, Musso and Hawthorn. At the start of the race, Behra took the lead from Fangio and Castellotti. Moss was taken by surprise and a juddering start damaged the throttle mechanism and he pitted at the end of the first lap. While Moss sat in the pits, Castellotti led but was then overtaken by Behra. Soon afterwards, Collins worked his way to the front but within a few laps he was in trouble with his clutch and had to pit. This left Behra in the lead again but he was soon passed by Fangio. Castelotti had lost his third position after a spin, so now Hawthorn was leading the charge although both he and Musso would retire after a while with clutch problems. Castellotti remained the only challenge to the Maseratis at the front but his race ended when a wheel fell off with 24 laps to go. Menditeguy and Schell were promoted to third and fourth when Castellotti went out and so Maserati started the season by romping home with a 1-2-3-4 result, with Fangio winning his 4th Argentine Grand Prix in a row ahead of Behra.

Argentina '57 would be Castellotti's last Grand Prix. He was killed testing a Ferrari at the Modena Aerodrome in March. A non-championship race was held in Syracuse on the southern Italian island of Sicily; this race was won by Peter Collins for Ferrari. The Pau Grand Prix, held on the city streets of the south-western French town of Pau was won by home favourite Behra in a Maserati, while on the same day, the Glover Trophy at the Goodwood circuit in southern England was won by Briton Stuart Lewis-Evans in a Connaught-Alta. Six days after these two events, Collins won the Naples Grand Prix. Another works Ferrari driver, Spaniard Alfonso de Portago, was killed in May while contesting the Mille Miglia sportscar race in Italy for Ferrari.