Lawson was involved in a spectacular collision with Pierre Gasly on the eighth lap, flipping his car 360 degrees.
The crash came as a result of a sudden gearbox failure in Lawson's car, and the Racing Bulls driver said he later apologised to Gasly.
"It's destroying something, I can hear it," Lawson told Racing Bulls engineers over their team communications ahead of the incident.
"It's really bad in the gearbox. If I let go of the clutch, it's making terrible noises. It's gone, it's gone."
There was thought the crash could leave him with a grid penalty at the Candian Grand Prix in three weeks time.
However, the crash was later deemed to be a result of a "mechanical failure", which not reason to penalise Lawson.
Lawson began 11th on the grid, and reached eighth at one point.
Meanwhile Italian wunderkind Kimi Antonelli won from the pole for the third consecutive race, claiming the title to tighten his hold on the Formula 1 drivers' championship lead with a strong performance.
Antonelli, 19, lost the lead to Charles Leclerc on the first lap, quickly regained it and then had to tussle with Lando Norris before retaking the front for good when Norris pitted from the lead around Lap 28.
After winning the Chinese and Japanese Grand Prix back-to-back, Antonelli earned his third career win and further boosted Mercedes atop the manufacturers' standings. He is the third driver in F1 history to earn his first three wins in consecutive races, joining Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen.
McLaren occupied the rest of the podium, as Norris and Oscar Piastri placed second and third.
Leclerc had a dramatic spin during the last lap and, though he avoided the wall, he fell from fourth to sixth as George Russell and Max Verstappen passed him to move into the top five.
Coincidentally, Leclerc benefited from a different spin on the opening lap. Verstappen, who gridded second, spun 360 degrees in the middle of the track while Leclerc moved past Antonelli from third to first. Verstappen was able to recover in short order as he earned his best finish this season.
The race was moved up by three hours to 1pm local time to avoid thunderstorms in the forecast.
- Allied Media/Reuters
