Lance Stroll has said that he is sure he will have more difficult races as he gets up to speed in Formula 1.

The teenage rookie had a mistake-strewn winter, and he then crashed in Melbourne practice before starting his debut grand prix last weekend.

Stroll admits that the much faster 2017 cars are hard to drive.

"When you're in control of the car, it has a lot of grip, but when that grip goes away, it's very difficult to recover," the Canadian is quoted as saying by Brazil's UOL.

"The cars of the last few years were different and you could play with it without losing the car."

The Williams driver says that he is not disappointed to have been clearly outperformed by his teammate Felipe Massa in Australia.

"I did not expect to compete with my teammate or fight for podiums," Stroll insisted. "I came to Melbourne to see where I was and get more comfortable with the car.

"I know there are 19 more races where many things will work but many will go awry as well."

Stroll won last year's European F3 series, but he admits that the F1 cars this year are much faster.

"Physically it's a beast to be controlled and mentally it's definitely more intense as well," he said.

"The cornering speeds are much higher, the braking zones are much smaller, things happen much faster. It's a big step."

The season continues with the Chinese Grand Prix on April 9.