Renault team boss Eric Boullier is convinced Bruno Senna will challenge for positions higher up the grid once he comes to grip with the car.
After a sensational drive during qualifying three on Saturday which saw him start the Belgian GP in P7, the Brazilian made contact with Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari at La Source and never recovered. He finished the race in 13th place compared to team-mate Vitaly Petrov's ninth-place.
Senna apologised to the Spaniard after the race and put the error down to his lack of mileage on a full tank at the start.
Boullier says the team were pleased with Senna's debut and is confident he will improve as he gets more time behind the wheel.
"His obvious weakness was the limited track time since January, so he needs more time to get his confidence back in exploiting the car," the Frenchman is quoted as saying by Autosport.
"His strength was his quietness and building up his speed, and working very well with the engineers. You could sense he felt at ease with the engineers and the environment, and he just took it step by step.
"It was also hard for him. With the late confirmation it was not the ideal scenario, and obviously the weather conditions at the first of the weekend were tough - especially on a very challenging track.
"The next races will be challenging for him, especially in Monza with no downforce, which makes the car difficult to drive. But definitely his confidence is back to the maximum - so I am sure he can do it."
Boullier also revealed that the attitude in the Renault garage is a lot happier these days.
"I was more than happy to see all my people in the garage applauding at the end of Q2 and Q3 with a smile on their face," he said. "It was the first time that had happened since Malaysia.
"It is important to have your people, who work all day and all night, be happy. This is for me very important; this is the way I can get the best out of our guys."
After starting with the 2011 season with back-to-back podiums, the Enstone team lost their way and slipped to fifth in the Constructors' Championship.
Boullier says they never expected everything to be plain sailing.
"It is tougher and tougher as obviously people expect more," he said. "The first year is easy, you step in - here is the car and driver, go ahead. So you go ahead - the machine is already working.
"In the second year we have started to restructure and influence change, and people are waiting for you to deliver. We are obviously not delivering exactly as we expect, so it is a little bit tougher. But people need to understand that you cannot change enough and make sure you can win in F1 within a year or two.
"I am not chasing excuses. It takes time to rebuild confidence, have a group of people working together and getting the sponsors and the drivers in place to have this positive loop, to make your team win again. It is more challenging."
