Romain Grosjean has no doubts he can become Formula One’s eighth different grand prix winner this season in Valencia on Sunday.
In his first full season in the sport, after struggling through the final seven races of 2009 for Renault, Grosjean has proven himself worthy of his place back on the grid.
After retiring in the opening two races in Australia and Malaysia in which he managed less than four laps overall to suggest he was again not up to the task, Grosjean has finally found his feet.
The Frenchman finished third in Bahrain in April prior to taking the runner-up spot in Canada just 10 days ago in his Lotus.
After seven races Grosjean is just two points behind 2007 world champion team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and 35 adrift of the championship leader, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
In taking the chequered flag in Montreal, Hamilton made it seven different winners from the opening seven races to extend a new F1 record.
For this weekend’s European Grand Prix, Grosjean firmly believes he can add his name to the roll of honour this season, claiming “the gap to the win is not that big”.
Grosjean added: “We have to go into every weekend aiming for a win.
“Approaching a race in any other way is like putting yourself on the back foot from the start.
“I’m mainly hoping for an improvement in qualifying and then we’ll see what happens from there.
“It’s great to be fighting at the front, that’s always what we want to do, but we’re in a tight battle this season so the most important thing is to score some good points again for the team.
“But if we have a strong weekend from the start then I think we are capable of fighting for a podium or even a win.
“We’ll see after qualifying where we are. Hopefully, we can get another good result.”
Grosjean at least has some good memories of the Valencia Street Circuit, in particular in that he made his debut at the venue in 2009.
Notably, however, Grosjean knows how to win at the track, adding: “I had a podium in the first GP2 race here in 2008 and was leading the second race until somebody took me out.
“Then I managed to win in 2011, so it’s a circuit I’m comfortable with for sure.
“It definitely helps to know the track already as it usually takes less time to get up to speed and you have a rough idea of where the braking points, turn ins and so on will be.
“Of course, Formula One is always a bit different, but at least I have some guidelines going into the weekend.”