Scientists name 98-million-year-old wasp species after McLaren's Oscar Piastri

A 98-million-year-old wasp preserved in amber has been given the scientific name Gwesped piastrii in honour of McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri, according to a study published in the June issue of the peer-reviewed academic journal Palaeoworld. The research was conducted by biologists Corentin Jouault, Di-Ying Huang, and Celso O. Azevedo.

The ancient wasp is encased in a rectangular piece of amber measuring 10 × 8 × 2 mm, unearthed in Myanmar and now stored at China’s Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology. The fossil dates to the Cretaceous Period and provided the researchers with new insight into the species’ evolutionary history and its morphological relationship to other wasp species.

Jouault, a fellow of Oxford University and the paper’s first author, explained the naming decision directly in the published text. “The specific epithet honors Mr. Oscar Piastri for his achievements in Formula 1, and because the color of the amber piece recalled to the first author the iconic McLaren orange,” the paper reads. “It is to be treated as a noun in the genitive case.”

Gwesped piastrii is only the second known species within the Lancepyrinae genus Gwesped. The researchers noted it can be distinguished from the previously identified Gwesped species by “its higher number of flagellomeres and distinctive forewing venation.”

Piastri himself is currently navigating a turbulent start to the 2026 Formula 1 season. The 25-year-old Australian failed to take the start at the opening two rounds in Melbourne and Shanghai, but recovered to finish second in Japan, leaving him sixth in the Drivers’ Championship standings. He is presently attending the Isle of Man TT ahead of next week’s Monaco Grand Prix.