Luigi Villoresi, absent from the World Championship since the final round of the 1951 season, returned to the Ferrari lineup for the Dutch Grand Prix, replacing Piero Taruffi, alongside regulars Nino Farina and Alberto Ascari, the latter of which had clinched the Drivers' Championship title two weeks previously.

The HWM team partnered Britons Lance Macklin and Duncan Hamilton with the local driver Dries van der Lof.

The only other Dutch driver on the grid was Jan Flinterman, who took part in a Maserati for Escuderia Bandeirantes alongside Chico Landi and Gino Bianco.

The Ferraris once again dominated qualifying, with Ascari taking his fourth pole position of the season, ahead of Farina in second.

Mike Hawthorn shone in practice, gaining a front-row start for his little Cooper-Bristol, relegating Villoresi's Ferrari to the second row of the grid.