The front wings themselves were actually quite primitive in 2009.
And even before that, very few front wing elements and flaps. The wider front wings drove the evolution of what we see today.
I'm convinced that there never was a problem with F1. The supposed 'lack' of overtaking only became an issue when more people started watching it around 2007/2008, and since the changes to improve the racing, there hasn't been a single interesting Grand Prix.
Sure, some Grands Prix may be incident packed, and have some side by side action, but the bigger story of the race has been missing for quite some time.