The Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix, which had been scheduled for 2 and 16 June, were both canceled because of disputes over money affected by the Suez crisis in Egypt. This resulted in a six-week break between Monaco and the French GP, which was to be held at the Rouen-Les-Essarts public road circuit in northern France, extended from its previous layout used in 1952.

In practice, Fangio was fastest with Behra and Musso alongside on the front row. Behind them were Schell and Collins with the third row consisting of Salvadori, Hawthorn and Trintignant. At the start, Behra went into the lead but Musso soon got ahead. Fangio followed in third with Collins and Schell giving chase. Then came a fast-starting McKay-Fraser. Fangio worked his way past Behra on the second lap and took Musso for the lead on lap four. BRM suffered a setback when Flockhart seriously damaged his car in a high-speed accident, although he himself was not hurt. Collins worked his way past Behra and the order remained unchanged at the front all the way to the flag with Fangio winning from Musso and Collins. Behra slipped behind Hawthorn, allowing the Englishman to give the Lancia-Ferraris a 2-3-4 finish behind Fangio. McKay-Fraser's promising run ended with a transmission failure at one-third distance but the American would not be seen again in Formula 1. He was to die a few days later in the annual Formula 2 race at the Reims public road circuit before the Reims Grand Prix, which was won by Musso in a Lancia-Ferrari.