Fatih, on the left side of the track in his grid position, was fully focused on the five lights that were on, waiting for the moment they would go out.
Less than a second later, they did. Having repeatedly practiced this in the simulation, he dropped the clutch halfway as he feathered the acceleration, doing it instinctively and dropping the clutch fully over the next second.
He got away with a good start, reacting faster than Perez, who was eight meters in front of him on the right side of the track, and the same for Bottas, who was sixteen meters ahead, as the two had a similar reaction.
The good start allowed him to immediately pull nearly side-by-side with Perez as he stuck in Bottas's slipstream. Though at their current speeds it wasn't too helpful, with the run to the first corner being four-hundred-something meters, it was still a meaningful aid.
