The cancellation of the Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix earlier in the season enabled the FIA to include the Coppa Acerbo Pescara GP in the World Championship for the first time, although it had been contested since 1924. It was held during the 1930s Grand Prix days of Mercedes, Auto Union and Alfa Romeo and continued as a non-championship race throughout the 1950s. The 25.6 km public road circuit, the longest ever used for a Formula One race (even longer than the Nürburgring), was very dangerous. Practice was limited and Enzo Ferrari did not bother to send cars for Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, partly because the World Championship had already been won by Juan Manuel Fangio and partly in protest against Italian government moves to ban road racing, following Alfonso de Portago's accident earlier in the year in the Mille Miglia. Luigi Musso managed to convince Ferrari to lend him a car and entered the race as a privateer.

Maserati's Fangio set the fastest time in qualifying with Stirling Moss second in his Vanwall. Musso was third. The second row of the 3-2-3 grid featured the Maseratis of Jean Behra and Harry Schell while row three had Vanwall's Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans split by the Scuderia Centro Sud Maserati of Masten Gregory.

The weather was hot and at the start, Musso took the lead. Maserati privateer Horace Gould hit a mechanic who was slow to get off the grid. Vanwall's challenge was blunted on the first lap when Brooks retired with mechanical troubles. Moss took the lead from Musso on lap two but the two cars remained together. Fangio ran third but the field thinned out quickly as the hot temperatures took their toll with Lewis-Evans losing nearly a lap because of two tyre failures and Behra suffering an engine failure. On lap 10, Musso disappeared when his engine blew, the oil causing Fangio to have a spin which damaged one of his wheels. By the time Fangio re-joined, Moss was un-catchable. Moss's lead was even able to stop for a drink and to have his oil topped up, and he won the race ahead of Fangio. Schell finished third with Gregory fourth and Lewis-Evans grabbing fifth at the end of the race from the fourth Maserati factory driver Giorgio Scarlatti. The Coppa Acerbo was never again to be used for a Formula One championship race; the race was last held in 1961 as a sportscar race.