Vijay Mallya believes Force India needs extra luck to fight for podiums

The Silverstone-based outfit has delivered some promising pace in the last few events, but hopes of it moving forward from its fifth and seventh places in Valencia were dashed by misfortune in the British Grand Prix.

Paul di Resta was forced to retire after a first lap collision with Romain Grosjean, while Nico Hulkenberg lost out on points after his wet-weather set-up proved not ideal for the dry conditions.

Despite that disappointing afternoon, Mallya is encouraged by the recent progress the team has shown - as he looks for it to make progress in the Constructors' Championship.

"It's satisfying to see that we are consistent top ten performers," he said. "We need that little bit of extra luck to get on the podium.

"Having said that, our immediate competitors didn't have too much luck either - [Sergio] Perez and [Pastor] Maldonado were both going well, but they didn't score. Sauber didn't get any more points to increase their lead over us.

"We are still only three points adrift of Williams and 16 behind Sauber, so we have reasons to be optimistic going forward."

Mallya also believes that the competitiveness of the field this year means there is no chance for the team to ease off at any event this year.

"We have no time to take things easy," he explained. "We have to take every race very seriously, with the same intensity and do everything we possibly can to earn more points."