Whenever Max has got his elbows out, he has received a penalty for it, apart from Brazil which Lewis won anyway.
I think Max's driving manners are ... questionable ... but that aside I'm not going to argue that he deserves the drivers championship over the course of the season because - he does.
But this mess was caused by the decision by the race director who made a judgement call to over-rule the rules to allow a final sprint final lap race. I'm sure every driver and team - inc Mercedes and Hamilton - would have agreed to such a rule change before the race started and they would have changed their race strategy accordingly, but to have a decision for one last flying lap when all the lapped drivers hadn't been properly cleared when it was painfully obvious to all that Max was on fresh rubber - that isn't a fair last final lap, and I don't blame Mercedes wanting to take it further.
I've no qualms about Max winning the race and the championship, but it's one thing to have tough fighting on the track: having the race director making things up on the hoof is something completely different,