Lando Norris has highlighted how "on the back foot" McLaren will be during the United States Grand Prix, having been deprived of the opportunity to "learn" from the sprint.
Both MCL39s were wiped out at the first corner of the one-third distance race at the Circuit of the Americas, in what was ultimately decided a racing incident by race control.
Many feel that Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri was most at fault for the four-car crash, also involving Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso, but the officials did not see it that way.
Aside from both papaya drivers losing another eight points to the resurgent Max Verstappen in the F1 drivers' championship standings, both enter the grand prix at COTA without the knowledge that the 19-lap sprint should have provided.
The Red Bull driver starts from pole, with Norris alongside him. Piastri, on another difficult day for the Australian, could only muster up sixth-fastest in qualifying.
When asked how much of an unknown the 53-lap race will be for him and how much of an advantage his rivals now have over him, the British driver told media, including RacingNews365: "I think quite a bit, honestly.
"Because we've not done — I don't think I've done more than three laps in a row and not more than, like, 40 kilos of fuel.
"So, I have no idea. We don't know if it's going to be amazing or terrible, certainly around here because it's so difficult with the bumps and the bottoming and the winds."
Norris highlighted how McLaren was unable to establish which "tweaks" it would need to make between qualifying and the grand prix as a result of the double retirement.
However, the 25-year-old was quick to add that it cannot be considered an "excuse" for the Woking-based squad.
"It's unpredictable," the nine-time grand prix winner added.
"So, we were hoping to learn a lot in the sprint, in terms of how the car set-up was going to be from quali to race and how it changes and the things that are good and bad. And then hopefully make tweaks for this quali for the race.
"But obviously that didn’t go to plan. So, yeah, we're certainly on the back foot, but I guess we will try not to use that as an excuse."
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