Romain Grosjean sure victory is not far away for Lotus F1 team

That is the view of Romain Grosjean, who says that hopes are high at the team that its first win of 2012 could be just around the corner on the back of his strong second-placed finish in Canada last weekend.

On a low-grip track that is not ideal for the characteristics of the E20, Grosjean brilliantly executed a one-stop strategy to overhaul Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in the closing stages and come home right behind Lewis Hamilton.

And although Montreal marked yet another occasion Lotus has had the potential to come out on top but not quite been able to get the victory, Grosjean thinks that it will not take that much to get the team to the front.

"The gap to the win is not that big," he said. "We need to qualify better. That is not our strength this season but we are working on it. I think Friday and Saturday were quite difficult for us in Canada but we have been learning a lot about the car so it's good that we now have that in our pocket for the next races.

"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, a good start and then we'll see what happens from there. It's great to be fighting at the front and that's always what we want to do, but we're in a tight battle this season so of course the most important thing is to score some good points again for the team.

"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."

Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen is equally eager to find out how strong the team will be in Valencia - after his hopes in Canada were wrecked by a differential problem in qualifying.

"I was a bit frustrated overall as I think we could have achieved more from the weekend," he said. "Still, we gained more points for the championship which is the most important thing, especially with everything so close this season.

"I love winning and that's what I'm always trying for. I've never won in Valencia, so it's a good target. Last time I raced in Valencia I finished in third after starting from sixth on the grid which was not too bad."