Bruno Senna confident he will be stronger in rest of 2012 Formula 1 season

The Brazilian sat out the first half of last season before replacing Nick Heidfeld at Renault, making his first appearance in Belgium.

He believes that this familiarity will make it easier for him to get the best out of his Williams-Renault machinery than it has been so far this year.

"I think so," he said when asked if having raced on these tracks last year would make things easier.

"The learning curve is much less steep and even though the tyres are new, we have a good idea of where they suffer and where the tyres can be worked harder. But it is really just experience with the car and the tyres from this year.

"We have been getting more and more competitive on dry pace and I have struggled in qualifying for one reason or another but in general the race pace has been very good.

"I'm confident that going to the track before can make the difference too. I should qualify where I should qualify and finish the race where I finish the race and score some better points."

Senna endured a difficult start to the season, with his qualifying performance suffering as he struggled to adapt his style to the Pirelli tyres.

The 28-year-old has a very different driving style to aggressive team-mate Pastor Maldonado, who has regularly qualified in the top 10 this year.

But in recent races, set-up changes have boosted Senna's qualifying form, culminating in his first top 10 starting position of the year in Hungary, which he converted into seventh place in the race.

That gives Senna confidence that he can repeat such results consistently in the second half of the season to prove himself as an F1 driver.

When asked by AUTOSPORT whether he felt his was on course in what is characterised as a make or break season, Senna replied: "Yes. It is easy to forget mistakes or be too critical about mistakes so I am trying to learn as much as I can, but I am much more confident now than I was in the beginning of the year.

"I think we are getting there and hopefully from now on we can do a good job."