Daniel Ricciardo refuses to speculate on his future, insisting that he'll take it as it comes.

With the sport increasingly turning into a soap opera - seriously, does Lando Norris realise the ammunition he's given to the likes of the Sky Sports team, they'll be bigging up the 'bitter rift at McLaren' from the outset this weekend - the summer break comes at just the right time, leaving fans with a number of cliff-hangers.

Among them is the future of Sergio Perez. Will the Mexican be dropped and demoted to RB, and if so who will replace him?

Helmut Marko has already made his feelings clear, while - kitchen tete-a-tetes aside - Christian Horner is being painted into a corner.

Though Liam Lawson has been linked with the Mexican's seat, Yuki Tsunoda insists he has more experience.

At the same time, there is talk of Daniel Ricciardo, just weeks after speculation that that the Australian was for the push.

Of course, Ricciardo has inside knowledge of the Red Bull family and has seen countless young talents pass through the doors never to be seen again.

Consequently the Australian refuses to be drawn on the ongoing speculation.

"Definitely take it as it comes," when asked how he thinks things will play out. "You just can't afford to look too far ahead," he added, the Australian yet to secure a deal for next year, never mind a shock return to Red Bull after the break.

"Planning ahead in this sport is not the right thing to do," he continued, "so it's race by race. That's the approach.

"Obviously just trying to be present and making sure I'm fully in the moment and giving everything I can on that given day. That's definitely the approach I'm taking," he insisted.

"It's also how you're perceived in this sport. You're as good as your last race. You can have five bad races and then you have this amazing result, and everyone's like 'Well, we knew that they could do it'."

Should he be overlooked in terms of replacing Perez - assuming the Mexican is dropped - it would not bode well in terms of his chances of being retained for 2025 and consequently Ricciardo is understood to have spoken to Sauber.

Though he may outwardly be giving the impression that he'll "take it as it comes", deep inside the popular Australian must be understandably fearing for his F1 future.