Prior to Sebastian Vettel coming home first at Monza earlier this year, the last win for an independent Formula One team took place over four years ago when Juan Pablo Montoya won the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix for Williams. Clearly life for teams which don't have strong links to a car manufacturer is tough.

A few eyebrows were raised when Vijay Mallya stated that he hopes to see Force India challenging for points on a consistent basis next season, before scoring wins in 2010. These are highly ambitious targets, even on the back of a new agreement that will see McLaren supply Force India with engines, hydraulic systems, gearboxes and technical support from next year.

Even with an improved package in 2009, Force India will face stiff competition. Williams, Red Bull and Toro Rosso all run with respectable budgets, and have close links to manufacturers. Williams, for example, work particularly closely with Toyota - both teams running the same engine and drivetrain set-up during the 2007 season.

There's a very definite change of approach to how Mallya's team will be going Formula One racing from now on. Having taken over the team late in 2007, Mallya opted to leave Mike Gascoyne in charge of the team's technical department, and provided increased funded in order to drive development forward.

Following the conclusion of Force India's first full season, it was announced that Gascoyne would no longer be part of the team. Mallya himself will take a more hands on roll in 2009, and given the monumental budgets involved in the sport these days, the team will be looking to ease the pressure on their in-house R&D team with support from McLaren.

Turning Force India into a team capable of challenging for wins regularly by 2010 is an undeniably huge task, but there's something refreshing about Mallya's ambition. Vettel's win at the Italian Grand Prix this year was universally popular amongst Formula One fans, and an increased challenge to manufacturer teams by the independents would likely be welcomed by most, if not all.