Yuppers, agreed.
Isn't it somehow more than stupid that a series of regulations have plunged Formula One into an era of insane and costs even the big teams never expected? And the really crazy part is that the political structure of the sport does not allow an easy solution.
Decades ago if someone came up with a good idea or a dominant car, it was only a matter of a few weeks before the competition was able to respond, and thus break the stranglehold on dominance. Now, even though teams and manufacturers have a good idea on how to solve their problems or at least a direction to go, the restrictions are so suffocating they just can't.
We spent a majority of the 90s with Williams lapping the entire field multiple times. In the past it was not a matter of weeks before the competition caught up. The rules in place now are exactly so a team can't do something like that.
Teams pay whatever they wish to pay.
They do that already and they always did.
And that's how it should be, it's their money.
The budget will be limited as always.
Teams will try and avoid spending more than they earn, just like in every other business that isnt the government...
That is not the point.
The point is that the last hundred million that the smaller teams have doesn't give as much of an advantage, so the smaller teams can live within their means, and not go broke trying to keep up with Ferrari and McLaren.
Aero updates may be introduced frequently but they're relying a lot on CFD to be right. Will the parts work? Maybe they will maybe they won't. If one team makes a breakthrough how quickly can other teams catch up? Unrestricted testing allowed teams to try their solutions and get a working set-up quickly, levelling the playing field. You're never going to stop a team taking a significant step ahead of the others but you can limit the ability of others to catch up.
The engine argument is less clear, as you say there have been examples before where it's taken a couple of years for a manufacturer to bridge the gap, but when teams are pretty openly treating the races as test sessions that can't be a good sign for the sport can it? Not only is track testing time limited but the changes they make is limited too. Honda may understand how to make the best engine in the field by country mile right now (although I'm not convinced 
), but they could quite conceivably be limited by the token system to not being able to put it on track for another 2 years.
Obviously the current limits on engine and aero developments is mainly budget driven, but there must be a better balance.
...but I agree with the faster car bit.
Unrestricted testing is so incredibly expensive that its never cost effective, regardless of the benefits. This isn't a championship of whoever has the most money, if other teams aren't fit to use simulators to their advantage they will just suffer the consequences. The series can't be at the mercy of moneybag manufacturers that can leave at their whimsy.
Honda can not make the best engine in the field. If they could, they would. Tokens are not stopping them. Their facilities are trash, their staff consists of random engineers that don't know anything about F1, their chief manager doesn't even speak the same language as McLaren's people, those are the reasons their engine is the joke of the motorsport world.
I think they should allow more testing during season. Not totally free like before but a lot more than currently is allowed. There has to be ways for teams to catch up. That was one of the great things before, that teams had the possibility to test to catch up.
How will the teams catch up if every team is allowed to test? There was no in season testing in 2009, yet McLaren went from last to first and in between. If the team can fix their issues they will catch up regardless of the conditions.
There was me all along under the impression it was all about the pinnacle of motorsport! ..Live and learn eh! 
