The Kiwi stepped into the car on Saturday and gained his initial experience in wet conditions, qualifying 20th and last, after Ricciardo was ruled out with a broken hand in an FP2 crash.
He sampled the car in the dry for the first time in the laps on the way to the grid and after the start he joined the first lap rush for intermediates.
As one of the early stoppers he briefly held fastest lap on the third lap of the race, and he ran for a while in 11th place.
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However, he received a 10-second penalty as AlphaTauri had blocked Kevin Magnussen’s exit from the pits by double stacking Lawson behind team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, the delay dropping him back at his next stop.
After an eventful afternoon that at one point saw Lawson pass the ailing Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, he was eventually classified 13th of the 17 cars running at the flag.
“I mean, the poor guy getting dropped in a car he's never driven, wet, dry conditions, everything being thrown at him, I actually think he did pretty well,” says Red Bull team principal Horner.
“And he actually overtook Max [Verstappen] on Max's out lap as he changed onto the intermediate tyres at the end there.
“To finish a race like that in itself with the lack of experience that he has, I thought in very difficult circumstances he applied himself very well.”
AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost stressed that it was too early to draw any conclusions about his long-term prospects.
Source: Autosport