Oscar Piastri has conquered Formula 1 circuits across the globe, but now the McLaren ace has achieved something truly prehistoric, immortality in the fossil record.
The Australian driver has received one of motorsport’s most unusual honours after researchers named a 100-million-year-old wasp fossil in his honour, cementing his legacy in a way even Lewis Hamilton can’t claim.
Meet Gwesped piastrii, a tiny ancient insect that predates the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex by some 30 million years, now carries the name of one of F1’s brightest young talents.
The remarkable fossil, discovered in samples from Noije Bum Hill in Myanmar’s Hukawng Valley, Kachin State, was preserved in amber for aeons before scientists unearthed it and decided Piastri deserved the naming rights.
Measuring just 1.15mm in length, the minuscule wasp dates back to the middle Cretaceous period, which roughly ended 66 million years ago.
But why name a prehistoric insect after an F1 driver? The answer perfectly encapsulates the McLaren connection.
Researchers chose to honour Piastri for “his achievements in Formula 1, and because the colour of the amber piece recalled to the first author the iconic McLaren orange.”
The papaya livery that adorns Piastri’s MCL39 has become synonymous with the Woking-based team’s resurgence, and now that distinctive hue has linked the 23-year-old to a creature from the age of dinosaurs.
The three researchers behind the discovery were Corentin Jouault from the University of Oxford, Di-Ying Huang from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in China, and Brazilian Celso O. Azevedo, who studies at the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo in Brazil.
For Piastri, who secured his maiden Grand Prix victory in Hungary last season and has established himself as a genuine race-winner at motorsport’s pinnacle, this represents a unique addition to his growing list of accolades.
Whilst most drivers dream of World Championships and podium finishes, few can boast having a species from the Cretaceous period bearing their name.
The Gwesped piastrii now joins an exclusive club of organisms named after sporting icons – though it’s fair to say this particular honour predates any championship trophy by approximately 100 million years.
From Melbourne to the Mesozoic era, Piastri’s name is now etched not just in F1 history books, but in the very fabric of Earth’s ancient past. Not bad for a driver still in the early stages of his Grand Prix career.
