Colapinto crossed the line eighth for Alpine, directly behind teammate Pierre Gasly in what had initially shaped as a strong double-points result for the French squad.
However, the Argentine was later handed a 10-second time penalty for failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags, dropping him to 10th in the final classification.
That promoted both Racing Bulls drivers, with Lawson moving from ninth to eighth and teammate Arvid Lindblad rising from 10th to ninth.
It hands Lawson two extra points and adds further reward to what was already the first three-race points streak of his Formula 1 career.
Colapinto’s penalty came after stewards reviewed evidence relating to the yellow flag infringement, which occurred while Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin was being recovered following his retirement.
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 43 (Franco Colapinto), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence,” the stewards’ decision read.
Secure your spot today.
“The Stewards determine that, albeit the driver of Car 43 slightly reduced speed before entering the single yellow flag zone, but did not discernibly reduce speed in the relevant yellow flag sector.
“The Stewards acknowledge that the driver reacted to the yellow flag but do not consider the reaction to be sufficient to comply with the regulations.
“Therefore a penalty on the lower end of the applicable scale of penalties is imposed.”
The decision reduced Colapinto’s haul from four points to one, while Lawson’s result improved from two points to four.
Lawson admitted after the race that Racing Bulls had been beaten on pace by Alpine, despite both drivers ultimately being promoted into stronger points-paying positions.
“It’s great we finished in the points, but if the top guys had finished, we wouldn’t have,” Lawson said.
“So we got knocked out by the Alpines that were quicker than us today.
“So something for us to review. I think we had a good car yesterday and struggled more today.”
Colapinto’s sanction was one of several post-race penalties issued after the Barcelona race.
Kimi Antonelli received a five-second penalty for track limits despite retiring late with an electrical failure.
Williams was fined twice for separate starting procedure infringements involving equipment left on or near its cars before the formation lap.
Discussion about this post