Kovalainen 'taken apart' in 2007

UPDATE (GMM) McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen has taken issue with team boss Ron Dennis' recent claim that he was "taken apart" by the Renault team as he tackled his rookie season in 2007.

Dennis said last month that his Mercedes-powered outfit can take the credit for rebuilding the 26-year-old Finn.

"Heikki is a guy who was systematically taken apart last year and we have systematically put him back together again," Dennis, whose relationship with Renault boss Flavio Briatore is famed for its acrimony, said at Sepang.

But Kovalainen said in Bahrain that he thought Dennis had exaggerated.

"I felt I did some very good races last year and unfortunately some people just don't see that," Kovalainen, who finished ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton in Malaysia and is on the Briton's pace at Sakhir, added.

"I never had any doubts about myself. I don't think I was broken or destroyed at any point. I had all the support at Renault, and I feel the same here."

Kovalainen disagrees with new boss

03/25/08 (GMM) Ron Dennis thinks McLaren can take credit for rebuilding Heikki Kovalainen following the Finn's difficult debut season for Renault in 2007.

At the Malaysian grand prix last weekend, 26-year-old Kovalainen outperformed Lewis Hamilton in only his second race for the Mercedes-powered team.

Team boss Dennis makes no bones about his belief that Renault, led by outspoken Italian Flavio Briatore with whom there is no love lost, did no favors to Kovalainen last year before replacing him for 2008 with Nelson Piquet Jr.

"Heikki is a guy who was systematically taken apart last year and we have systematically put him back together again," the Briton is quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

Dennis said Kovalainen, whose F1 debut was dismissed as "rubbish" by Briatore, "lost his motivation" in 2007 as he was "misguided" in how to go about things like physical preparation.

He also refutes suggestions that, amid McLaren's rumored interest last year in drivers such as Nico Rosberg, Kovalainen was only the second or third choice to replace Fernando Alonso in 2008.

"He was miles ahead of any other option," Dennis insists.

"Then when we spoke to him you could just see that look which says it is in there if we could just get his self-belief back, get him into a position where he knew what he had to do."