Vijay Mallya has backed his Force India team to deliver on the promise shown in the second half of 2009 when the new Formula One season gets under way next month. The Silverstone-based team were one of the surprise packages of last year, starting the year as tail-enders and ending with genuine front-running pace as a raft of revisions paid dividends.

Giancarlo Fisichella's pole position and second-placed finish at the Belgian Grand Prix stunned the F1 paddock, while Adrian Sutil's front-row start and fourth place in Italy only served to underline the strides taken. Against this backdrop there was understandable expectation at the unveiling of the team's 2010 challenger on Tuesday, and team owner Mallya believes the Mercedes-powered VJM03 can firmly establish the team as regular podium contenders.

"Our goal is to continue on the same path of performance improvement that we had at the end of 2009," said Mallya.

"I don't think I am being over-proud when I say 2009 was an exceptional year for us.

"The bare statistics say it all - one podium, one pole position, one fastest lap, a further five top-10 starts and 13 points.

"We've learnt from our experiences and we've come out a better team - resilient, resourceful and now resurgent.

"I hope 2010 will see this great progress carrying forward. We've got one podium so far, but I would hope that, this time next year, I'll be talking about more points and more podiums.

"I'm confident we can get this, so why not aim high?"

The days prior to the launch of the new car have been fraught, however, with Mallya forced to play down reports the team could be in jeopardy after failing to present their 2008 financial accounts on time.

The billionaire businessman insists the team will be on the grid for the opening race in Bahrain on March 14, where a raft of new-for-2010 regulation changes will come into effect for the first time.

The new season will be the first since 1993 not to feature in-race refuelling, while narrower front tyres and a ban on wheel covers will also have an effect on lap times.

Forefront in the mind of design director Mark Smith has been the optimisation of the car's double diffuser, the controversial device which allowed Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams to steal a march at the beginning of last season before a challenge to its legality failed and the rest of the teams, Force India among them, were forced to play catch-up.

"[The new car] is a natural progression in areas which seemed to have strong trends at the end of 2009, and in other areas it's quite different," said Smith.

"The back of the car is the area that has evolved most as everyone has had a year of experience with the double diffusers so we've all gone into 2010 much wiser to what we can do.

"There have been some refinements in that area and it's formed part of the make-up of the car this time around, rather than being added very quickly, as happened at the beginning of last year."

German driver Adrian Sutil remains with the team for the fourth season having joined under its former Spyker guise in 2007, with Vitantonio Liuzzi also retained after he stepped up from his reserve role following Fisichella's move to Ferrari for the final five races of last season.

For Liuzzi, 2010 will mark his first full F1 campaign since 2007, and the Italian, who impressed at the tail-end of 2009, is ready for the task ahead.

"After one and a half years in a test role, I feel really prepared, both physically and mentally for a full race season," he said.

"In Force India I feel really good, the atmosphere is great and the team works well together.

"This year is a new start for me. I'm a different person from two years ago and I am approaching it from a different mentality. It's a different Tonio.

"I'm still young and have a lot of time in front of me so I just want to prove what I can do."