High-profile team owner Vijay Mallya says Force India will have a bigger budget for the 2009 season.

The Silverstone based team's new ownership already pledged more money and resources for its inaugural season this year when it took over the ailing Spyker outfit.

Force India moved closer to the rest of the field in the first half of 2008, but has now shifted its focus to next year.

The last piece of development for the current car will be a seamless gearbox in Hungary.

"Beyond that I have decided that we will now concentrate on the 2009 car," Mallya said at Hockenheim.

"We have an increased budget for 2009," he revealed, adding that two new senior engineers have joined the design team.

"We will add as many as we need to," Mallya said.

"When you have to compete with teams with significantly higher budgets and vast resources you have at least to step up to the plate, otherwise you won't get anywhere."

Source: GMM