Felipe Massa has jumped to the defence of his new young Formula 1 teammate, teenager Lance Stroll.

Canadian Stroll, 18, made three significant mistakes in Barcelona last week, the last crash damaging the chassis and ending Williams's run a day early.

Even though Stroll has denied that Massa, 35, is effectively his "mentor", the Brazilian veteran defended the youngster amid criticism.

"It would be worse if we were not running because of problems with our car," Massa told Globo as he sat out the end of last week's test due to Stroll's crash.

He said that Stroll crashing due to inexperience is "absolutely part of the game".

"Everyone should calm down, as this was his first experience of the car. The boy is only 18 years old. I've also been 18, I've been through it," he said.

Massa actually made his F1 debut at the age of 21, as at the age of 18 he was still in Brazil's Formula Chevrolet category.