Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles at Renault have hit new lows, but the Australian is hopeful he can improve on his 11th-place starting position in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

In a long qualifying session marred by two accidents on the tight Baku City circuit, Ricciardo finished twelth-fastest, with teammate Nico Hülkenberg even further down in eighteenth.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas qualified in pole position ahead of teammate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari’s  Sebastian Vettel was third.

Both Renault drivers struggled with grip and Ricciardo was possibly lucky to make it as far as he did. Some drivers’ runs were disrupted by Williams’ Robert Kubica and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc hitting the wall on the infamous city wall section of the track.

Hulkenberg went out in Q3, while Ricciardo fell 0.096 seconds short of making the top 10.

Due to penalties, Ricciardo will start 11th for Monday morning’s race (AEST).

“Considering how the weekend has gone so far, we probably lowered our expectation for today. Twelfth isn’t ideal,” Ricciardo said in a team statement after the session.

“This weekend we’ve been a little bit off the pace and small things make a big difference. We’ve made changes from yesterday and certainly made progress.

You never know what will happen here. I’m right in the midfield for the start and it can be crazy at this place.

“We have to keep it clean, keep chipping away and aim to come through the field.”

Ricciardo is a former winner in Baku and had never finished outside the top 10 in qualifying.

Renault’s sporting director Alan Permane admitted the team needed to do better for the drivers.

“It wasn’t a particularly good qualifying for the team,” he said. “The weekend has been difficult and a little intermittent, but that’s the same for all teams and that’s part of the challenge of racing in Baku.

“Nico has struggled with confidence in the car, while Daniel was slightly happier and managed to get through to Q2 and very close to a shot at the top 10.

“We know anything can happen here as we’ve seen in the past couple of years, so we’re not counting anything out for [the] race.”