Bruno Senna admits he has already surprised himself with how well he has performed since returning the Formula One action – and he hopes it will lead to a race seat for 2012.

Nephew of driving legend Ayrton Senna, the 27-year-old Brazilian has looked at home in the two races since he replaced Nick Heidfeld at Group Lotus-backed Renault.

That is some feat given Senna's only previous F1 experience had been half a season with Hispania last year – and enough, Senna hopes, to book a drive for 2012 whether with Renault or elsewhere.

Senna said: 'The best way for me to be racing next year is with the results on the track. The objective is to keep having strong results and fix my place in Formula One, and the key to that is to keep improving and learning.

'I can only learn as much as possible during a race weekend, which will only come with time.

'The target was to build up, so to qualify in the top 10 twice has been a great surprise. It's a nice feat because this is Formula One, not a place where you can just sit down and beat the other guys.

'So it gives me happiness I am in a competitive car that allows me to be there or thereabouts.

'I'm gradually becoming more comfortable with the car and with the team, although there are a number of areas where I still need to progress.

'I need to improve my technical knowledge of the car and there are some areas of my driving to brush up on. I'm certainly not 100pc there yet.

'I'm sweeping up every piece of information I can, and I hope as a team we can continue scoring points and secure top 10 qualifying positions. We should be household names in Q3 every Saturday.

'Hopefully by the time I'm fully acquainted with the car, I'll be securing more points for the team.'

With Robert Kubica set to return to the Enstone team for next season following his horrific rallying accident in February, Renault's choice for 2012 may rest with either Senna or current team-mate Vitaly Petrov – with the latter's seat far from safe according to team principal Eric Boullier.