Ricciardo will be out of contract at the end of next season and, as a proven race-winner, is expected to be the target of a bidding war to sign him for 2019 and beyond.

Red Bull Racing will have to fend off big-money offers from other leading F1 teams, including possibly Ferrari, to keep the ebullient West Australian if it doesn't provide him with a car capable of regularly winning races next year.

Ricciardo has been linked with a move to Ferrari since he won three races in his first season with RBR in 2014.

Along with his speed and world title-winning potential, he is seen as a good fit with the iconic Italian team because of his heritage.

But Ricciardo's aim is to achieve his dream of becoming world champion with Red Bull to repay the energy drinks giant for supporting him in his junior racing years and giving him his chance in F1.

"That's what I've always said and that is the truth," he told Fairfax Media before the British Grand Prix, to be run on Sunday night (AEST). "People say 'Oh, Ferrari, your Italian background' and they've seen photos of me as a kid in a Ferrari T-shirt. I mean, yeah, that's all well and good, but up till now - again, no real disrespect [to Ferrari] - Red Bull have been the ones that have given me everything to be here.

"So, at the moment, I owe Red Bull, I don't owe Ferrari, for example. There's maybe the Italian heritage, but on paper, I think the satisfaction to win a world title first with Red Bull would be a lot bigger."

Ricciardo, 28, from Perth, has another season to run on his existing five-year deal with RBR, which promoted him from its Toro Rosso junior team in 2014 to replace retired fellow Australian Mark Webber alongside four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

He was the only driver to win races that year other than dominant Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, and overshadowed Vettel, who defected to Ferrari in 2015.

Ricciardo, who won last month's Azabijan GP and scored his fifth podium finish in a row at last Sunday's Austrian GP, won't decide his future until this time next year, adamant that despite on-going speculation, he is not entertaining rival offers.

"It's certainly too soon," he said. "I think this year in general is too soon to think about the season after next. I know where I am next year, so it's put all the energy into that and then see."

He admitted that he would start thinking about 2019 and beyond early next season, but as with RBR's recovery since this year's season-opening Melbourne GP, the true potential of his options won't be clear until the middle of 2018.

"You'll make an initial assessment at the start of the next season," Ricciardo explained. "But it's so weird because if I'd looked at where we were in Melbourne - where I obviously wasn't happy at all with the performance (early retirement from the race) - and also in pre-season testing, we really were under-achieving a lot.

"So if that was next year, I'd be like 'Well, yeah, I'll probably move on'. But now, the way we're progressing, we always get these like rays of hope, so you need to wait until probably around this time next year to then assess what you want to do.

"By then, you'll get an idea of who's going to be strong. But I certainly haven't thought that far ahead yet."

Ricciardo's options in 2019 will also depend on whether there will be vacancies alongside Vettel at Ferrari and Hamilton at Mercedes, plus any teams that are on the rise and looking for an established star to lead them forward.

He expects to receive approaches next year from other teams, but modestly maintains that he can't take it for granted that he will have front-running choices.

"I think if I was to continue driving well, I would expect interest, for sure," he said. "You would think that, but you can't expect it. You never know what people's agendas are or what they're thinking.

"I know other teams rate me as a driver, for sure. So if I keep continuing like this, I'm sure I would get interest elsewhere. We'll see."

According to Ricciardo, his third place in the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring behind winner Valterri Bottas and Vettel, and ahead of a charging Hamilton, was an encouraging sign of progress.

"The gap to the front has closed," he said. "At Barcelona (the Spanish GP in May), I got a third place, same as Austria, but we nearly got lapped and we weren't in the race. In Austria, we were in the race.

"Sure, Lewis still had more pace than us, but we held him off. We felt like if we can put ourselves in the race, then we can stay in the race and that's what we did in Austria."

Although Red Bull's Renault power unit is still behind those of Mercedes and Ferrari, it is creeping closer while the team has improved the RB13 chassis.

"I think the chassis is certainly working better now," Ricciardo said. "It's by no means perfect yet, but it is definitely better, so that's helping out. And, yeah, we're getting a bit more power.

"We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now."

Ricciardo hopes a minor front wing upgrade will help his chances in the British GP, although he is not expecting to be among the pacesetters at the fast and flowing 5.891 kilometre Silverstone course.

"If it's better here, it probably means we're going to win the race because we were already close to Bottas in Austria," he said. "As far as the car goes, we shouldn't be worse here. I think we should be competitive. I think we can really throw the car into the high-speed corners, so I think in that area we can make up a lot of time."

Ricciardo is more optimistic about his chances at the tight and twisting Hungaroring, outside Budapest, aided by a major aerodynamic upgrade that should make him a genuine chance to win the Hungarian GP at the end of the month.

"I think at Budapest we can be generally strong," he said. "On paper, Budapest is a lot better circuit for us than Austria. Maybe the others underperformed in Austria, but for me, it was the best the car felt in a race this year.

"So we should be close in Hungary. I hate predicting, but on paper, it's all leading in that direction, absolutely."

He rates his best chance of another win this season as September's Singapore GP night race on a tortuous street circuit where power isn't so critical.

"Hopefully, by then, we're really, genuinely a chance to get onto the top step [win]," Ricciardo said. "I've had too many seconds in Singapore the last few years [in 2015/16, plus third in '14]. It's about time I won there."