Formula 1 is an incredibly competitive sport, run on razor-thin margins, with no stone left unturned in the pursuit of speed. Teams are competing for literal millisecond advantages, shaving milligrams and perfecting every surface of the car down to the millimeter.

The team, the driver, and the car must be in perfect harmony for 72 hours, or valuable positions are lost by the time the checkered flag falls at the end of the weekend. With those positions lost comes money lost.

Teams can lose both sponsors and prize money over a race result. Just such a thing happened to Haas Formula 1 Team in 2019. Haas was, at the time, sponsored by Rich Energy, an energy drink company based in England. Poor performance by the team, as well as the dubious financial circumstances of their sponsor, led to the two organizations calling it quits. Over the years, the sport has become more and more monetized through both sponsorships like the one had at Haas two years ago, as well as TV viewership.

Every inch of a car can be affected by this influx of money and bleeding-edge tech, and the steering wheel is arguably affected the most.

If It Ain't About The Money

via Motorsport Technology

At the end of the 2020 Formula 1 season, Ferrari collected a hefty $205 million in prize money and "other bonuses". Often that prize money is circulated right back into the development costs of the following year's car, which frankly, Ferrari could use a little help with after their disappointing 2020 season.

No other part of the car receives as much driver input as the steering wheel, both during the race and throughout the wheel's development. Driver's wheels are often developed to their specific preferences, with everything from button layouts to the material on the grips being taken into account.

When individual cars can cost tens of millions, the steering wheel can make up a significant portion of the cost. In addition to this, drivers will often go through multiple wheels per season due to developmental changes made throughout the season as well as accidents.

RELATED: No One Expected These Cars To Be As Successful As They Were

For example, if a new in-car system is developed, such as Mercedes' DAS system, new wheels must also be developed for both drivers to take advantage of the new tech. Of course, the change does not always need to be so massive, as components can be changed to reflect input given by drivers over the course of the season. These components can often be exorbitantly expensive, as the wheels are made from the lightest, strongest materials available, such as carbon fiber and even gold.

The cost is more than financial, as each wheel takes easily more than 50 man-hours to make. It is difficult to put a hard number on the cost of each wheel, from CAD file to race track, as each team makes their own wheels for each driver. Some estimates place the cost of a single wheel anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 USD. Then, taking into account the average 3 to 5 wheels per season, the steering wheel of a Formula 1 car can cost an average of $240,000 to $500,000 every year.

Modern F1 Steerings Wheels Are All In The Name Of Progress

via Formula 1

The evolution of the steering wheel in Formula 1 is an analogy for the development of the sport as a whole. As cars evolved from thin-tired sub 200 horsepower death machines to thousand horsepower monsters, so too have the devices used to control them.

Wheels have gone from a simple wooden circle bolted to the steering rack to having upwards of twenty-five buttons, dials, and switches, each with a unique function. Modern wheels allow drivers to alter the setup of the car on the fly, from how much braking pressure is applied at the front and rear of the car to dispensing water to the driver to changing the angle at which the wheels contact the pavement. Much of Formula 1 technology eventually works its way down into everyday road cars, and steering wheels are no exception.

Nearly every function found on a steering wheel in a car can be traced back to Formula 1 or other motorsports.

via Formula 1

This includes the steering wheel-mounted paddles, which are so commonplace in modern cars. Paddles, once reserved for the most advanced of race and road cars, can now be found on even the Toyota Camry.

It's nearly impossible to understate the effect steering wheels, and the tech they control have had on motorsports. This begs the question, is the extreme cost even worth it?

It's hard to make any argument in favor of such an over-developed piece of hardware to those outside the industry, used only for a few weekends a year before yet another over-developed piece of hardware is thrown in the car. But to look at it from an insider's perspective, armed with the knowledge that the technology used this season may just end up in your Toyota one day, it certainly seems worth the money.

NEXT: Review: Daily Driving A Polaris Slingshot Makes No Sense, But I Did It Anyway