Oscar Piastri has 100-million-year old insect named after him in 'iconic' tribute

Researchers have named a 100-million-year-old recently discovered wasp fossil after McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri. 

The Gwesped piastrii was initially discovered in samples from the Noije Bum Hill, Hukawng Valley, Kachin State in Myanmar and was preserved in amber. 

Just 1.15mm long, the fossil is from the middle Cretaceous period, which roughly ended 66 million years ago. 

The wasp fossil is therefore about 30 million years older than the T-Rex dinosaur, which lived about 68 million years ago. 

Researchers decided to name the wasp after Piastri to honour "his achievements in Formula 1, and because the colour of the amber piece recalled to the first author the iconic McLaren orange."

The three researchers involved 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. 

Check out their research, and an image of Gwesped piastrii by clicking this link!