Nathan McKane

Nathan McKane  (born July 18, 1983 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish Racing Driver, currently driving for Hispania Racing F1 Team. He is the current World Champion, having successfully win the World Driver's Championship in his first two seasons of Formula 1. He is the first driver to graduate from the International Grid Association into Formula One.

Before Formula One
Nathan first caught onto motorsports after watching the 1989 British Grand Prix on television. He was first taken to Knockhill circuit to experience the cars up close for the first time. Most of Nathan's childhood and teenage years were spent in national championships in Scotland, rising up the ranks year by year.

Before his breakthrough into the open wheel racing scene, Nathan was well known for being a part of the Ravenwest Motorsport tandem with Rick Scott. They were the top two drivers of the iGA, winning numerous championships in Formula 3, Touring Cars, and GT1 between them before the iGA folded before the 2008 season.

He returned to racing in 2009 in the revived Formula 2 series. While he started the season slow, he picked up the pace, picking up five wins in a row and finishing second in the driver's standings. Super Nova Racing noticed his talent and signed him for the 2009-2010 GP2 Asia Series. While only partaking in 6 of the 8 races, he won the Driver's Championship by winning 4 of the 6 races he partaked in and finishing on the podium in the other races. While he brought little sponsorship money, Hispania Racing took a gamble and signed him as their second driver, beside Bruno Senna, weeks before the team's debut race in Bahrain.

2010-Present - HRT F1
Expectation was low for Nathan, having only one full season under his belt after his break in 2008. Hispania team principal Colin Kolles saw the talent and signed him on the expectation that he will lead the team to the best of the three new teams for 2010. The team had no testing with the HRT F110, and the car with Nathan behind the wheel showed potential with him finishing a few places outside the points in the first three races of the season. He saw his breakthrough to the points in the changing weather in Shanghai, he stayed out on his dry tires when cars ahead put on intermediates fearing the rain would amplify at the end of the race. The gamble payed off with Nathan finishing ninth in his fourth grand prix. Steady points continued from Spain to Turkey, with a fifth coming in Monaco.

When the team went to Montreal, the car found where it was fastest and Nathan exploited this getting his first pole of his career. In the race he got off to a great start, able to keep his lead with Mark Webber starting second. The pace that Nathan had all weekend proved too great for all challengers, as he got his first fastest lap and win in his career. The team's upgrades proved to work better then expected. He continued to get consistent point finishes, including a win at the Hockenheimring. At the Hungaroring, he was thought he was brought down to Earth after he retired on the first lap due to damage caused by a puncture from contact with another car. He bounced back immediately, taking a win on the last corner in Belgium passing Alonso, and a win at Monza. While other drivers who were in contention were getting reliability issues, Nathan kept consistent and reliable and was in the fight for the World Driver's Championship alongside Sebastien Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

From Japan to Brazil he got a pair of podiums and finished in the top 5 in the other races, leaving a twelve point gap between him and then points leader Vettel. In Abu Dhabi, he got to the lead in the first lap after starting seventh. Vettel retired late in the race with an engine failure, and Hamilton finished outside of the points after he was spun on the first lap by Kubica and couldn't make up the places at Yas Marina. While other drivers fell by the wayside, Nathan picked up the pieces and won the 2010 Formula One World Driver's Championship with 221 points.

Hours after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it was announced that Nathan would defend his championship with Hispania Racing. The team had absolute confidence that their hero could repeat what he did in 2010. The HRT F111 was a late arrival and no testing was able to be done on the car before the first round of 2011 in Australia after it was rumoured that the team was having a major reshuffle and new owners buying the team. While the car had early teething issues in Australia, he proved the car had potential with a 12th in Melbourne and a 10th in Malaysia. The team found their pace in China and won one year after Nathan and HRT took their first points in China. His talent at blocking and late brake-overtaking took the spotlight after he was able to hold off half the field on the long back straight of Shanghai for the duration of the race. The next round was at Istanbul Park, where team team was brought right down to Earth after McKane was off the pace the whole weekend, and incurred a twenty second time penalty after not complying to blue flags late in the race, finishing 19th. At the team's home race in Spain, Nathan battled in the lower points paying positions, after going to fourth after the start, before Heikki Kovalainen pushed him wide after the lapped Team Lotus driver gave him little room to pass, he went on to finish thirteenth.

The team then proceeded to the tight streets of Monaco where Nathan was brought back to his element in the front of the field. He was the fastest car all weekend, scoring pole and doing the least amount of laps during the session in the process. With the extra set of Option tires, Nathan dominated the grand prix: started from pole, took fastest lap and won in stunning fashion after a two-for-one overtake on Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton after his final pitstop. The win was a launchpad for the next round in Montreal, Canada. Once again, the HRT was on the pace and claimed pole after other front runners didn't get the best time. The race was in the wet and Nathan controlled the pace out front the whole race and took a clean victory in the changing conditions. This put Nathan back in the championship battle, twenty-one points behind points leader Hamilton in fourth position. Nathan continued this resurgence, taking pole, fastest lap and the victory in Valencia where he predicted to be off the pace. After Valencia was Nathan's home race at Silverstone where after running in the to five for the duration of the race, he ran wide at Chapel and crashed into the barriers. His fortunes reversed with some points in Germany and a second place in Hungary after getting the pole and fastest lap in the race.

After the Summer Break, Nathan finished seventh at the Belgian Grand Prix after qualifying thirteenth with troubles finding a good handling balance. The next round was at the Monza circuit where McKane found some pace which the car didn't have at Spa. He was in a battle in the top 5 when the car lost control on the run to the Varainte della Roggia and crash into the outside barrier, then into the Williams of Rubens Barrichello. He would get the car repaired and he would finish a lonely seventeenth. The final flyaways began in Singapore where Nathan took a dominate victory while the main title protagonists failed to finish. He then scored a pole position in Japan before falling to third when other driver's true pace showed during the race. Another pole came in Korea, but after a Safety Car ruined the team strategy, eventually finishing fourth. He then went on a major push to attempt to win the World Driver's Championship for the second year in a row. It started with a demanding display in India, and a victory at Abu Dhabi after passing the main rival Lewis Hamilton in the first lap.

He went into the final round with a thirteen point advantage over Hamilton. In the dry conditions, Nathan took second place on the grid behind the Williams of Pastor Maldonado. Everyone started on Intermediate tires with the persistent rain throughout the weekend and Nathan took the lead from Pastor at the first corner. He would then lead the race until the first pitstops where the pitcrew made the mistake of putting on another set of Intermediate tires on a dry track. He pit for dry tires a lap later and found himself in a race for the championship. Nathan would regain the lead as the other drivers pitted for Option tires numerous times while Nathan made the stop for Primes to start, and Options to end the race. He would have the lead by the end of the race with the Red Bull of Mark Webber catching up with his pace. The Australian would storm by on the last straight on the last lap to win the race and the Constructor's Championship for Red Bull, but still giving Nathan McKane the 18 points he needed to win the Championship for the second year in a row with 249 points.