Romain Grosjean impressing with Lotus second time around ahead of British Grand Prix at Silverstone Cynics might suggest the cards were never stacked in his favour at a team where Flavio Briatore was both team principal and Alonso's manager. Grosjean, naturally, does not get drawn into that debate, although he does not deny that he is a different man and driver now. "Three years older it helps you a lot to understand things," he says. To see things differently. I was maybe sometimes too aggressive in the past. Aggression is not something you would automatically associate with Grosjean after 20 minutes in his company. Naturally self-effacing, his words carry all the menace popularly associated with the country of his birth. Grosjean has a budding second career as a diplomat when he retires from the sport. He even sits on the fence on the subject of his own nationality. "As a racing driver, I'm more French than Swiss because I'm licensed in France, but as a character I think my close friends will tell you I'm not 100 per cent French," he says with a smile. I'm always on time. Was he surprised he was able to match Raikkonen so soon? "I think the surprise was the car," he says, studiously avoiding the question. We knew from winter testing we had a nice car. But to go from there to Melbourne and take third on the grid was unbelievable. And then the second nice surprise was to see the car so consistent. "I'm just trying to do my best and working hard with the whole team," he adds, now on autopilot. My goal at the weekend is to beat 23 other drivers. Nice try, but come on, did you really expect to be matching a former world champion, with tonnes more experience, straight off the bat? I'm pretty surprised with the way the season is going. If you had told me in January that I would have two podiums I would have signed straight away. A third attempt: do you think Raikkonen is driving at his top level or is he making you look better than you are? This time the arrow finds its mark. "Kimi didn't take long to come back to his level," Grosjean says with just a hint of pride. I was at the test in Jerez [in February] when he got back in the car. After five laps he set a lap time which was his best of the day. Straight away he was back to the level at which he left Formula One. And yes I'm happy with the way the season is going. I expected to have less experience and in a few conditions to be less good. But I'm trying to get the best of his experience in every situation and then use it. Could Grosjean become the season's eighth different winner on Sunday? He topped a rain-soaked first practice on Friday, although that told us little. What is clear is that he is closing in on that first victory. He would like to squeeze it in before the honeymoon. "I get to the race track I feel more and more comfortable in the paddock I feel more and more happy to be here," Grosjean says. We've done third, we've done second. Hopefully we can achieve first one day soon.