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)
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.