I know this will probably sound heretical, but I think that there's no such thing as an "unfair advantage". If we really wanted to see technical innovation in F1, there would be virtually no restrictions on the cars - just some basic safety stuff for the drivers.
that would be boring since it would basically mean the biggest wallet always wins. by limiting the cost and finding ways to equalize the cars, we get more exciting races.
as for innovation: there is constant innovation. unfortunately teams are not in the habit of telling the world about parts you don't see.
btw, the other day I learned that they use 3D printers to manufacture parts for the gearboxes. 3D printers that can can print metal parts. (I'm not sure if they use titanium parts, but according to a guy from Cloudfab, the titanium 3D printing process produces results that are superior to casting)
Well the problem with that is that most of the best innovations come in the face of these restrictions. Nearly every advancement we have in cars today come from F1 in some for or another and many of them due to some restriction (e.g. restriction on motor size leading to much more efficient motors than we had before).
But the DRS does have a lot of rules which may deem it unfair. For example, if one car is leading and another following, the following car is allowed to use DRS, but the leading car isn't.
due to the aerodynamics you generally need a 1 to 1.5 second per lap speed advantage to pass a car. as soon as you get close to the car in front you lose a lot of downforce. this would not be a problem if the cars were always moving in a straight line.
to even out the playing field DRS is activated if you are closer to the guy in front than 1 second at a certain point on the track. once activated the DRS system can be deployed beyond a certain point.
the alternative is to keep the wings and have parades with almost no overtaking. or no wings, which would mean no more exciting 5.5g seventh gear turns. which would kinda suck.
I can't imagine how many drivers would be killed each year if there were no restrictions. Safety measures can only do so much good with the amount of energy that would be thrown around.
This is the story of the 60s and 70s in F1. The BBC recently aired a brilliant documentary about that era and the abysmal safety record. Drivers were dying every few races.
Sure, but it would be so awful to watch that it wouldn't survive longer than five years. Schumacher's Ferrari domination years were just terrible for fans.
