Daniel Ricciardo rued the return of more braking issues during a scrappy Friday at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

On a circuit with so many heavy braking zones, it perhaps wasn't surprising that the Australian had trouble in the one area he has struggled most since joining Renault.

The result was a lowly 15th place at the end, though Ricciardo does think there is some speed available if the braking is solved.

“Today was a little bit stop-start," he said afterwards, referring to the disrupted running due to red flags.

"In the second session, I had one clean lap which wasn’t too bad at the time, but we had two brake lock-ups on two sets of tyres which resulted in two big flat spots.

"We couldn’t continue after that. We have a few things to sort out ahead of tomorrow, especially trying to get the car happier on the brakes.”

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Before the session came the good news for Nico Hulkenberg that the faulty MGU-K from China had been fixed, meaning he avoided a grid penalty.

However, sitting only 17th after Friday, the German knows he has work to do.

"The second session didn’t go well for us and we were struggling with things like tyre warm-up, downforce level and braking stability,' he revealed.

"That made it challenging, but we’ll put our heads together overnight and find some fixes for tomorrow.”

Earlier in the week, Hulkenberg was asked about the early performance of Renault, who have struggled to make the progress that was perhaps expected over the winter.

“To have the hiccups and the DNFs is not great, especially in the early part of the season – it’s good to get points under your belt,” he said in Thursday's press conference.

“But on the good side, every track we have been to the pace has been there – one or both cars have been in good positions and managed to score decent points.

“So, we feel we have a decent baseline, the midfield is still very tight and the top three still seem well ahead, so it’s about keeping the momentum and making the car faster week by week.”