At the , Kobayashi suffered a gearbox failure and retired from the after hitting a track-side barrier. Kobayashi's teammate changed in Singapore as Pedro de la Rosa was removed in favour of Nick Heidfeld. In Japan, Kobayashi qualified 14th and finished seventh, passing several drivers along the way including his teammate, in a very impressive fashion. He finished eighth in Korea and tenth in Brazil, eventually finishing the season with 32 points. In his review of the season, former TV commentator Murray Walker stated that Kobayashi is "without a doubt Japan's best [F1 driver] yet". Kobayashi gained a reputation during the season as a highly skilled overtaker, being able to outbrake drivers several car lengths in front of him. His aggressive overtaking style was described by Martin Brundle as, "He gets to the normal braking point and then goes, 'Now, which one is the brake again? That's right, it's on the left,' and he just sails past people!" He qualified well against his more experienced teammates, outqualifying de la Rosa and Heidfeld 11 times to 8 over the season.