Mallya: Force India progress on target

Although Force India is yet to score a point this year, Mallya admits he has been delighted with the progress shown since the start of the season, with the team now a regular contender to go into Q2.

"I'm very pleased. I think we've shown excellent progress, and in this sport, which is so competitive, it's unreasonable to expect some miraculous results," said Mallya. "We made Q2 in Monaco, we made Q2 again in Istanbul, obviously not by chance, but on merit and that is a huge step forward.

"Now we've had two in a row, and hopefully with a new upgrade to come in Silverstone we should make Q2 going forward for the rest of this season, and without too much difficulty.

"We're not quite in the points yet, but we're a good midfield competitor. I always said that the idea would be to get some points this year, be regularly in the points next year in 2010. And I've talked about podium finishes in 2011 to coincide with the Indian GP. I think I'm pretty much on track."

Mallya concedes he would have liked to have scored points this season already, but the Indian is optimistic there are still enough races left to achieve the goal.

"It's so competitive now, and being so close is just part of the game," he added. "I would have loved to have had a point. We were just one place away in Monaco and also Australia, but there's always the next race.

"One has to move on. Turkey was race number seven, there are still 10 more to go, and we're not even half way through the season, although it seems like that with all the activity that is surrounding Formula 1."