17/07/2025 19:05
Today marks 10 years to the day that Jules Bianchi sadly passed
away, nine months on from his crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand
Prix. Bianchi had a successful junior career en route to F1 and
frequently raced against Dutch rival Giedo Van der Garde. Speaking
to RacingNews365 in an exclusive interview, Van der Garde reflected
on how his relationship with Bianchi developed over time. "We were
really arch rivals of each other in Formula 2," he said. "We were
also pretty often at odds with each other. In Monaco and Barcelona,
we went off together. "He was hard, very hard, really just a pure
racer who could drive very well. I had a little more experience in
that class but you could already see he was doing really well in
his first season. "We had nice fights, but there were also times
when he crashed into me or I pushed him off the track, so it was
really hard [driver] against hard [driver]." The respect shown
between the pair is similar to what is being witnessed today
between Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, according to Van der
Garde. "If you look back at that now, you think of Piastri and
Verstappen very quickly now," he said. "Those guys have respect for
each other. It's hard, but beautiful racing. "That was a little
bit with us, too. And sometimes we went over that, but well, we
were young dogs, so that's when that happens." Below: Van der Garde
and Bianchi crash at the start of the F2 Sprint Race from Barcelona
in 2011. Article continues below the image. A growing relationship
Having spent a couple of years together in F2, the only way for the
duo was up. In 2013, both drivers made their F1 debuts - Van der
Garde at Caterham and Bianchi at Marussia. With both squads being
the least competitive on the grid, their fights from F2 spilt over
onto the F1 playing field. "We often ran into each other in Formula
1 as well," Van der Garde highlighted. "We ended up having more
respect for each other. And we always had a lot of fights anyway,
because we were both at backmarker teams. "As the year went on, we
grew closer and closer. We got along more and more. Eventually, he
also became a really good friend of mine. "He respected me and I
respected him. We became good friends and I really started to find
him a top bloke." As the respect for one another grew on the track,
it led to a boost to their personal relationship. "My best moment
with him was once while going out," Van der Garde reflected. "There
we started to connect more and more. "I can't tell more about that,
unfortunately! But he was really a very funny guy." Article
continues below the image. The accident In 2014, Bianchi and
Marussia experienced the high of scoring points for the first time
at the Monaco Grand Prix. It was a significant achievement for a
team who was stuck towards the back of the field for several years.
But just nine rounds later at the Japanese Grand Prix, Bianchi slid
off the circuit in treacherous conditions and hit a tractor that
was recovering Adrian Sutil's Sauber. Van der Garde, who was
employed as a test driver for Sauber, remembers the moment well.
"All that rain, all the water that fell, the rivers, yellow flags.
Then you have aquaplaning there, then you go off. "That was the
most normal thing in the world. Someone went off and then a tow
truck had to come, and they had to take it off, provided it wasn't
stuck and couldn't be pushed off. "If he had gone off one metre
further, he would have just been in the tyre barrier. So I think it
was just the wrong timing that he went off there. If he had just
gone into the tyre barrier, he would still be driving Formula 1
today." Bianchi's death, which was the first in a grand prix race
in 20 years, sent shockwaves through the paddock. "Especially
because he was so loved," Van der Garde expressed. "He was a guy
with a great future. "It was really intense what happened there.
That did have a mega-impact in the paddock, yes. "We were arch
rivals, but we really grew closer. I will always remember that,
despite the fact that it has become a sad story with the accident
that happened in Japan."
