However, the Kiwi was judged to have been at fault for an incident with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who crashed in the final laps of the race.
The stewards ruled that while Lawson was the leading car at turn 12, where the incident took place, he was behind at turn 11 and therefore was required to give Alonso room.
As a result, Lawson was relegated to 13th place, and also handed one demerit point on his Formula One super licence.
“He came out on cold tyres, and I’d done a lap,” Lawson explained post-race. “I was trying to get by him early in the lap.
“I waited for DRS [drag reduction system], made sure to get my wheels ahead at the apex trying to overtake. I feel I did that, then I got squeezed off.
“At that point, I was heading for the concrete wall. I was trying to get out, but he left me no space.
“Obviously [it’s] not my intention, but I feel like I had my wheels ahead.”
The Kiwi had made up five places on the end of the first racing lap – delayed by rain over the Miami International Autodrome – and benefited from a chaotic affair to cross the line eighth, before he was upgraded one place after Max Verstappen was penalised for an unsafe pit release.
Seventh in the sprint would have netted Lawson two points, and betters his ninth-placings from grands prix in Singapore in 2023 and Austin and Brazil last year.
Lawson wasn’t the only drive to be impacted by post-race penalties. Williams’ Alex Albon had finished fourth, but was also hit by a five-second penalty for infringements behind the safety car.
The incident won’t be welcomed by Alonso, after he and Lawson clashed in the sprint race at the US Grand Prix last year.
McLaren’s Lando Norris led a one-two finish alongside teammate Oscar Piastri, while Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton finished third.
With just hours between the sprint race and Grand Prix qualifying, heavy rain drastically altered conditions and left drivers needing to be cautious, with any damage potentially coming back to bite them later in the day.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fell victim to the slippery conditions and was out before the sprint even began, after colliding with the wall on the back straight and suffering terminal damage to his car.
So poor were the conditions, the race was red-flagged, as the track was too wet to safely begin, even after the formation lap was driven behind the safety car.
But after a delay of more than 20 minutes, the sprint was able to get under way, albeit reduced in distance by one lap. And as the track began to dry, teams began to plan for a strategy of starting on intermediate tyres, but finishing on slicks.
Again, the 19 remaining drivers began behind the safety car and completed two further laps before the decision was made to see a standing start.
Already leading the world championship, Piastri wasted no time on the race start, taking the lead from Kimi Antonelli at the first corner and holding that lead to the end of the race.
The move was a cruel blow for Antonelli, who went on to finish 10th – but was upgraded to seventh – after he became the youngest driver in the sport’s history to take pole position.
Lawson, meanwhile, climbed the most places and rose to ninth off the start, one place back from the points at the end of what was the third lap.
The Kiwi showed incredible bravery to hold the inside racing line and brake late to get ahead of four other drivers, with the final place being made up by Leclerc’s absence.
Significantly, though, Lawson’s fast start had him ahead of Racing Bulls teammate Isack Hadjar, who finished 10th once penalties were applied.
Given the wet conditions meant no use of the DRS, Lawson was under no major threat of being overtaken by Hadjar in the bunched field, however it also left him with work to do if he was to get past Alonso and into a share of the points.
On lap six, though, Lawson complained of a broken visor impacting his visibility, as the gap to Hadjar closed to around 0.5s.
But as the track continued to dry, drivers began to struggle on the intermediate tyres, which are designed for the wet alone.
On lap 11, the DRS was enabled, as cars began to fit slick tyres. As Hamilton headed to the pits, Lawson climbed to eighth, before he pitted on lap 13.
But as more cars stopped, Antonelli and Verstappen collided in the pits, while Carlos Sainz’s Williams hit the wall to leave chaos on track. Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty for the incident, an unsafe release, which was the fault of his Red Bull mechanics.
Lawson emerged after his stop in 12th, albeit with plenty of drivers still on the intermediates ahead of him.
On lap 15, Lawson went to the outside of Alonso, as the contact forced the Aston Martin into the wall and left the Kiwi staring at a penalty after a stewards’ inquiry. Alonso’s exit triggered a safety car that lasted until the end of the race.
