The Dutch Grand Prix held on the twisty Zandvoort circuit was the first European race to count for the World Championship and in consequence it drew a formidable entry. Both Maserati and Ferrari entered teams of four cars, while Gordini ran three, as did Connaught, and H.W.M. two. These were supported by the private Ferrari of Rosier, the Gordini of Wacker, the Connaught of Claes and Wharton's Cooper-Bristol.
Ferraris were out in full force with Ascari, Farina, Villoresi and Hawthorn all driving the normal 4-cylinder models, while a fifth car was kept as spare. The Maseratis were the new models, that first appeared at Naples, with parallel instead of splayed 1/4-elliptic rear springs, left-hand gear-levers operating in the central gate by a swinging link arrangement, the 12-plug engines and the redesigned bodywork. Fangio and Bonetto had brand new cars, while Gonzalez had the one with the small headrest that Fangio had driven at Naples. Graffenried, fresh from a victory at Eifelrennen, was driving the fourth car which was the first of the new models and that which Gonzalez had driven at Naples. Of the Gordinis, Trintignant was on the dual-exhaust system car and Schell and Mieres were on the normal six-cylinders as was Wacker. The three works Connaughts were all fuel-injected, driven by Salvadori, MacAlpine and Moss, though the last one was not officially entered by the factory, but was hired by Moss to replace his Cooper-Alta that had not gone too well at Nurburgring the previous Sunday. The two H.W.M.s were driven by the normal team men, Macklin and Collins.
Only just over a week before the race the circuit was completely resurfaced with a special non-skid tarmac, but the top dressing had not worn off with the result that there were large quantities of loose gravel about the place and the corners were terribly slippery. To add to the drivers' difficulties the usual layer of fine sand covered the whole area, the course being situated in sand dunes, and this rose in a fine spray as cars braked heavily, having a sand-blasting effect on anyone following.
