Oscar Piastri ‘buzzing’ to have unique honour in ‘part of biological history’
Oscar Piastri has had his name forever enshrined in the natural world.
Oscar Piastri joked that he was “buzzing” to have had a newly-discovered ancient species of wasp named in his honour.
Research emerged that an as-yet-undiscovered prehistoric flat wasp species had been found fossilised in Myanmar, preserved in amber, with the three researchers behind the paper detailing its discovery explaining that its name was no accident.
Oscar Piastri ‘a part of biological history’ after new species discovery
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The University of Oxford’s Corentin Jouault, the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology’s Di-Ying Huang, and the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo’s Celso O. Azevedo decided upon the name Gwesped piastrii for the wasp species, which “honours Mr. Oscar 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 paper added in terms of the importance of such a discovery, with a “seemingly inexhaustible” level of biodiversity found in the area and encased in amber: “The descriptions of Gwesped piastrii contribute to refining our understanding of the morphological diversity within the genus.”
Only a little over a millimetre long, the researchers found the fossil to be from the middle Cretaceous period, which ended around 66 million years ago.
The world of Formula 1 quickly picked up on this news, with insect-related puns flying around on social media.
Piastri himself has now commented on this unique honour, taking to Instagram to first say “buzzing about this”, before McLaren slyly put it into conversation in a video on its social media channels.
“I have heard of the buzz in the news,” he said. “I’m famous. I’m a part of biological history.
“I’m so excited, I might sting someone.”
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The Australian has also recently been spotted at the Isle of Man TT, with manager Mark Webber having introduced him to one of motorcycling’s oldest and most famous time trials.
Cameras followed the McLaren driver as he traversed through a person’s garden to reach a prime viewing spot, and upon seeing riders fly past at full pelt on public roads, admitted “these guys are nuts.”
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