Following his public criticism of his rookie driver Heikki Kovalainen, Flavio Briatore and Kovalainen have had a meeting privately to discuss the Finn’s performance. Afterwards, Kovalainen admitted, “There was little praise.”
Briatore is understood to have told the Finn that Renault will not tolerate such poor results, particularly when Kovalainen made so many driving errors during the race. Kovalainen has denied that the pressure of his debut helped caused the errors however he did describe the race as “one of the biggest disappointmenets of my life.”
Other public figures were more supportive of Kovalainen with Pat Symonds stating that most rookies have an error-strewn first Grand Prix. Team President Alain Dassa also said that, “We can’t take it out on him. He’s a young driver and he was under heavy pressure. He’s got a long way to go but I’m sure he’ll get there.”
