Force India boss Vijay Mallya has set his team the target of overhauling both Sauber and Williams in the Constructors' Championship.
Team boss hopes Force India can finish up in same spot as 2011
Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya has set his team the target of overhauling both Sauber and Williams in the Constructors' Championship over the remainder of the season.
The Indian had been hoping to go one better in the standings than last season, when the Silverstone outfit finished in sixth place, but he admits the "exceptionally dramatic" rise of Lotus has put paid to those ambitions already.
However, with nine races remaining and despite currently trailing both their main midfield rivals in eighth place, Mallya is holding out hope that the team can at least end up matching last season's final placing with a strong run between now and Brazil.
"We were sixth in the constructors' championship last year and we had the objective this year of coming fifth," Mallya said.
"However, the improvement of Lotus has been exceptionally dramatic, so I think to target fifth is probably overreaching our capabilities for this year.
"We should at least target sixth, where we finished last year, and that means
getting ahead of both Sauber and Williams."
Paul di Resta, who has claimed more than half of the team's 46 points so far, admits clawing back Sauber will be an uphill challenge in particular, but the Scot has faith that Force India can emulate last season's big end-of-season development push.
"There's still a long way to go in the championship and we need to get back to scoring regular points," he said.
"Last year we ended the season strongly and we need to do the same this year. Williams are not too far ahead of us but Sauber have a big points advantage and it's going to be a big task to overcome that.
"But we won't give up; we'll keep pushing and see what we can do. We definitely have the potential to get some big results before the end of the year."
