Work Text:
PRESS CONFERENCE — SPANISH GP 2025
WINNER: OSCAR PIASTRI (McLAREN)
P2: LANDO NORRIS (McLAREN)
P3: CHARLES LECLERC (FERRARI)
Journalist (Autosport):
Oscar, congratulations. Huge win today. There’s been a lot of chatter online recently comparing you to a young Kimi Raikkonen— they’re calling you Ice Boy, even saying you’re the next Iceman. Cool under pressure, never showy, always calm. What do you think about that?
Oscar Piastri: (smiling slightly)
I’ve heard it. I’ve also been called robot boy in school, so… I guess some things never change.
Lando Norris: (snorting, half-laughing)
He’s literally the most sentimental guy you’ll ever meet. Don’t let the press conference face fool you.
(Oscar shakes his head, laughing quietly.)
Oscar:
Lando’s seen too much. My wife calls me Tin Man when I get too emotional. Like the Wizard of Oz guy, before he got the heart. It’s her very subtle way of telling me to get a grip.
Journalist: (laughing)
So you’re not as emotionless as the nickname suggests?
Oscar:
Not even close. I’m just… selective. I don’t tend to do cartwheels in parc fermé, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel it. I just save the dramatics for when my daughter tells me she likes Ferrari red better than papaya.
(General laughter in the room.)
Charles Leclerc: (grinning)
That’s betrayal.
Oscar:
You don’t know the half of it.
***
Meanwhile on Twitter:
@/formula_wifey:
OSCAR “TIN MAN” PIASTRI??? I am never recovering. Felicity, you are doing the Lord’s work.
@/landoismytherapy:
the way lando immediately outed oscar for being the most sentimental man alive… i love this stupid grid family
@/padduck_gossip:
Oscar Piastri: calm under pressure, clinical on track
Also Oscar: cries at handmade birthday cards from his toddler
(source: vibes)
@/beepiastristan:
him: I was called robot boy in school
also him: my wife calls me Tin Man when I get too emotional
THE RANGE.
@/melbournemechanic:
so you’re telling me the man who silently handles million-dollar machinery at 300km/h cries so much that his wife roasts him? peak husband material.
@/formulawife:
oscar piastri being called robot boy at school and tin man by his wife is PEAK emotionally repressed husband behavior and i for one am obsessed
@/softoscarupdates:
lando saying oscar is the most sentimental man alive and oscar immediately confirming his wife calls him “tin man” when he gets too emotional ??? i’m sorry that’s ROMANCE
@/f1burneracc:
piastri: i don’t show emotion
also piastri: tells his wife he loves her so much she has to call him tin man to stop him crying
🤝 duality
@/raceweekroses:
tin man piastri is now my roman empire. he is so unbothered until he’s talking about his wife and daughter and then he’s like 🥺🫶
@/felicitysupremacy:
i just KNOW felicity says “okay tin man” every time oscar starts waxing poetic about something dumb like Bee’s little frog plushie or her sourdough starter
@/f1lore:
the fact that he only shows emotion around his wife and daughter is the most unintentional romance novel protagonist thing i’ve ever heard.
@/formulacursed:
oscar piastri being called robot boy in school makes so much sense but also hurts my feelings personally
@/wheresthedrs:
lando norris going “he’s the most sentimental guy you’ll ever meet” and oscar just calmly saying “my wife calls me tin man” like it’s not the cutest thing anyone’s ever heard???
@/piastribrainrot:
HE WAS CALLED ROBOT BOY IN SCHOOL 😭😭😭😭 AND NOW HIS WIFE CALLS HIM TIN MAN I’M GOING TO EAT CONCRETE
@/f1heartstopper:
this press conference has now made it canon that oscar piastri is soft for exactly two people and they are his wife and his daughter.
we love a tin man with priorities.
@/neverbreezyinbarcelona:
someone find the classmates who called him robot boy. I just want to talk. with a tire iron.
@/landochaosnorris:
lando norris is the biggest oscar piastri wife truther and I support him in this campaign
@/thepiastrihive:
not oscar being all “i’m just selective with emotions” while we KNOW he probably framed his daughter’s first drawing like it’s a Monet
@/spicyymechanics:
I’m sorry but the idea of Oscar getting too soft and Felicity just being like “okay Tin Man, calm down” while chopping onions is so deeply hilarious to me
@/beeandbreadfan:
Felicity calling him Tin Man is such quiet, married energy. That’s not a nickname. That’s years of context.
@/emotionallyunstablegp:
no but imagine being married to oscar piastri and instead of “babe calm down” you hit him with “ok tin man”
I’d ascend.
@/feralgirlsontrack:
i was FINE until he said “I save the dramatics for when my daughter tells me she likes Ferrari red better than papaya”
i am unwell. emotionally deceased. this man is a father.
@/piastrilibrary:
someone draw fanart of fel holding a wrench and just pointing at oscar going “TIN MAN” while he blinks in confusion holding a bouquet
PLEASE
@/landozbestie::
lando fully snorted laughing and exposed oscar as the softest husband alive. i am in shambles
@/landoischaotic:
lando snorting at “robot boy” and saying oscar is the most sentimental man you’ll ever meet… best friend behaviour.
(but also: tell us everything immediately.)
@/fernboysgf:
OSCAR PIASTRI SAID HIS WIFE CALLS HIM TIN MAN WHEN HE GETS TOO EMOTIONAL I’M LOSING MY MIND
@/lanzoftheday:
robot boy → tin man arc… he’s healing 😭
@/maxielvows:
Oscar: yeah I was called robot boy growing up
Also Oscar: my wife calls me Tin Man when I cry too much
me, sobbing: CAN YOU TWO STOP BEING SO SOFT
@/fastcarspinknails:
Felicity Piastri if you see this: I love you. Also please release the Tin Man merch line. I would buy it in bulk.
@/charlesleclur:
oscar piastri: deadpan king.
also oscar: my toddler betrayed me by liking ferrari red
me: parenthood has HUMBLED this man
@/papayaoverboys:
tin man piastri is the nickname of the SEASON actually. nothing can top this. nothing.
***
Oscar hadn’t expected it to matter.
The press conference was fine—actually, better than fine.
He’d won. Again.
The team was buzzing, Zak was delighted, Lando was making jokes at his expense, and he hadn’t completely embarrassed himself in front of the media. A successful day by all accounts.
And sure, the “Ice Boy” nickname came up again. But that wasn’t new.
He’d been hearing variations of it since his schooldays. Robot boy. Circuit brain. Emotionless Piastri. The names had followed him from karting paddocks to Formula 2 garages to the Formula 1 media pen, like gum on the bottom of his race boots.
Oscar had never liked it, but he’d learned how to wear it. He’d built a career on clean lines and cool heads. People could call him whatever they liked as long as he kept finishing ahead.
So when the question came up, he’d smiled. Said something light. Let Lando make it funny. Mentioned Felicity and Bee. Moved on.
Oscar didn’t expect Felicity to be upset.
It was late, the kind of late where the house felt hushed and settled. Bee had been asleep for hours, curled up with Button the frog. Felicity was in the kitchen, barefoot, kneading a new batch of sourdough bread. The windows were open. The scent of warm olive oil and rosemary hung in the air. Everything should’ve been calm.
And yet… she wasn’t.
Not frantic, not angry—but quiet in a way that wasn’t peace. Focused in a way that felt like a wall.
He leaned against the doorframe and watched his wife for a moment before saying, “You’ve been quiet.”
Felicity didn’t look up. “Have I?”
“That’s my line,” Oscar said lightly.
She gave a smile—small, polite, not real.
“Bee talked about you in her sleep,” he said after a beat. “Something about you being the queen of suspension geometry.”
That earned a breath of a laugh. But then she went back to kneading the dough, hands precise, movements tight.
Oscar crossed the room and leaned against the counter beside her. “Talk to me.”
Felicity was quiet for a long time. The dough smacked gently against the bowl.
She shook her head once. Then again. And then, finally: “I hate that they call you Ice Boy.”
Oscar blinked. “What?”
“I hate it,” she said again, more firmly now. “I hate that they act like you’re cold just because you don’t perform your emotions for the cameras.”
He just stared at her “It’s just a nickname. It’s a narrative. People like neat categories. It’s easier to say I’m robotic than admit I just don’t like yelling on the radio.”
“It’s not just anything,” she said, slamming down the dough onto the counter with far more aggression than usual. “They reduce you to a caricature. They act like you’re a machine. Like you don’t feel anything.”
Oscar tilted his head. “But I don’t mind. Really. It’s been around forever. And besides, it’s not true. The people who matter know that.”
Felicity’s throat worked like she was trying to swallow something sharp. “I know you don’t mind. That’s what makes it worse.”
He was quiet. Watching her. Letting her talk.
“I just…” she breathed out, eyes shining in a way he knew she hated. “I’ve seen you cry at Bee’s drawings. I’ve seen you stay awake for days when she was sick. You memorize people’s coffee orders. You keep every note I’ve ever written you. You once cried because I called you my constant. And they still look at you and say Ice Boy like you’re a shell.”
Oscar reached for her hand and rubbed his thumb gently across her knuckles.
“You’re not a robot,” she whispered. “You’re the best man I’ve ever met.”
“I know,” he said softly. “You know. Bee knows. That’s what matters to me.”
“But don’t you ever want people to see it?”
He hesitated, then leaned forward and kissed her fingers. “I want you to see it. Everyone else gets what I give them. I’m not hiding it, Fliss. I’m just saving the best parts for the people I love.”
Her eyes closed for a moment. Like something unclenched.
Felicity leaned her head against his. “I just… wish the world saw what I see.”
“They don’t have to,” he said. “Because you do.”
She looked at him, eyes full. “Still.”
He pressed their foreheads together, voice low. “Then I’ll make sure they see enough to know who I am. Just enough.”
“You already did,” she murmured. “You said Bee likes Ferrari red. You exposed your greatest heartbreak.”
Oscar laughed quietly. “It is a betrayal.”
“You’re soft,” she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “And I love you for it.”
He smiled, small and warm, letting it reach every corner of him. “That’s why you get the real version. Not Ice Boy. Not Tin Man. Just me.”
And in the quiet kitchen, where the tea had gone cold but the room felt warm again, Felicity nodded. “Just you,” she said. “Always.”