In the final race of the 2016 season in Abu Dhabi, Rosberg entered the round with a twelve-point lead over teammate Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship. In the final laps of the race, Hamilton defied team-orders, first from his race engineer Peter Bonnington and then by the team's technical director Paddy Lowe, and deliberately slowed to back Rosberg into the chasing pack at end of the race in a bid to encourage rivals Vettel and Verstappen to overtake his teammate, which would have allowed him to win the World Championship. Despite Hamilton's tactics, Rosberg finished in second and clinched his maiden World Championship by five points over Hamilton. Wolff later conceded Mercedes got it wrong in issuing team orders, regretted the decision to interfere and should have let the drivers race.