Maybe only those who lived in his era can understand who he was and that's about it. Everything else is a nice story created by professionals.
He was a guy way above average in a particular point in time when the cars were brutal and you could still crash them half the time and not get fired. ( But you still would get a lot of shit and better deliver something fast.. or else)
Make no mistake every single F1 driver has an huge ego and they bully each other to oblivion. These mental games exist since the beginning and most of them work like an infection, one little cut and they got you. They were different drivers but also Piquet, Berger, Lamy, Tarquini, Alesi and so on. They all were products of that era.
Prost was less "spectacular" but not "cerebral" to the point the media makes him, they exaggerate the differences in order to sell the story and EVERYBODY involved in F1 reaped the rewards of this. Kind of like Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo.
Finally, yes Jean-Marie Balestre was a c*#t, but everybody involved with Le Mans can tell how the French operate :), But what about Max Mosley? and do we need to talk about Bernie Ecclestone? F1 was ALWAYS a cesspool of jocks, rich playboys and sleazy bastards. The "people" are invited to watch and that's it.