Mallya setting high targets for Force India

Force India should still aim to try and catch Red Bull in this year's constructors' championship, according to team principal Vijay Mallya.

Last year, Force India secured the best result in the team's history with fourth in the standings, beating Williams to best of the rest behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. This year, Force India has built on that success and scored eight double-points finishes from the opening ten races of the season.

While Mallya describes the 2017 performance so far as "fantastic", the team principal wants to keep Force India aiming high for the second half of the year.

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"We should have had nine at least, but eight out of ten is a very good record of double-points finishes," Mallya said. "It's very, very satisfying to see two good, competitive drivers. Esteban [Ocon] has come up to speed really well and a little quicker than I thought, so it's fantastic. You couldn't ask for more.

"Two cars regularly in the points is exactly what we need. We're up to 95 points in ten races, have never had this type of points tally ever in the history of the team that I can remember. [We are] 54 points clear of Williams, our nearest competitor, so slowly but steadily consolidating ourselves in fourth position.

"Let's see what opportunities the second half of the season throw up. I'm not giving up on chasing Red Bull, it's always good to set your targets high because that allows you to really challenge yourself in terms of performance. Whether we get that or not, finishing fourth for the second consecutive year is obviously a very creditable achievement."

Despite his optimism, Mallya admits Force India cannot afford to ignore the threat from teams behind, singling out Williams and Toro Rosso based on past performance levels and resources.

"I have to say that Williams is probably going to be our main rival, like they were last year," he said. "If anybody talks about engine performance or powertrain performance, and it is the general feeling in the paddock that the Mercedes engine is the best, then both Williams and Force India have the Mercedes power unit. So it's close between us.

"Williams has been around 47 years. They are advertising their 40th anniversary but when I met Sir Frank [Williams] coming into [Silverstone] I was told off by him when I said 40 years. He said 'What do you mean? You can't scrub off seven years of my involvement, it's actual 47!' He's a great man, Williams is a great team with huge heritage, history and world championships. So they've got the pedigree, so we need to obviously be wary of Williams.

"But Toro Rosso can also come through the pack pretty quick. They are, after all, a sister to Red Bull. I wouldn't use the word 'twin', but they certainly are close sisters to Red Bull, and can will always produce Red Bull type of performance. So we are not going to rest on our laurels because it's good to be on 95 points in fourth position after the tenth race of the season, but we have to continue to score high."