I think Max was over-zealous in his defense and should at minimum get some license points as a warning. However, I think the arguments I would make on the topic have been made several times, so no need to rehash.
It's clear there's a lot of disagreement on Max's on-track behavior, but I think we can all agree that in F1, teams and drivers will do whatever they can get away with. For instance, reverse grids are a common passing thought, but we all know that qualifying would then turn into "How slow can I go without hurting the car?" So with that in mind, his behavior won't change until he starts getting penalized - either by the team or by the stewards. I don't see the team penalizing him because they don't want to lose his talent to competitors. So unless Whiting and co say something he really has ZERO incentive to change. Sure, he crashes now and then, but in his mind, it's the same behavior that won him a race in Spain.
Another thing we probably can all agree upon is that winning is associated with greatness. Schumacher and Senna had more than their fair share of dodgy moves in their careers and now they are legendary. I think Prost usually isn't involved in that conversation because he was a little "too clean" most of the time. Michael Jordan was kind of an a-hole, but we all let that slide too. Max wants to be a part of that legend and how much other drivers like him is probably not a concern for him.