Hamilton announced the competition just under a fortnight ago.

He said via his Instagram account that he was overwhelmed by the interest and that he would need some time to decide on a winner.

“Wow, over 8,000...Thanks for all the helmet designs and putting in so much effort #TeamLH !!” wrote Hamilton.

“Some really great entries in there. As the competition’s now closed I’m going to be looking through to see the design that I’d like to pick.

“There's quite a few entries to go through, so this might take some time but hoping to announce the winner in the next few days. More soon...”

As well as Hamilton using the fan design during the next F1 season, the winner will also pick up a full-sized replica that has been signed by the Mercedes driver.

F1's regulations mean that once Hamilton starts the season with the helmet design he must keep it for the entire campaign, although is allowed to run a one-off special at a race of his choosing.