Felipe Massa claimed third place for Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton claimed his second victory in a row as McLaren scored another one-two finish at the United States Grand Prix.

The 22-year-old British rookie continued his dream start to life in Formula One in Indianapolis, following on from his maiden victory in Canada last Sunday with another pole position, another win and a seventh straight podium finish from the first seven races of his Grand Prix career.

Hamilton opened a 10-point lead in the drivers' championship over McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso, who was second.

The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were back in business after a terrible race in Canada, finishing third and fourth.

Renault rookie Heikki Kovalainen was once again in the points in fifth with Toyota's Jarno Trulli sixth, while Australian Mark Webber scored his first points of the season in the Red Bull with seventh.

Sebastian Vettel, a late stand-in for Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber, finished eighth on his debut.

Hamilton held his line and the lead into the turn, while Raikkonen had a poor start off the second row and lost position to Nick Heidfeld and fellow Finn Kovalainen.

But there was drama behind the front-runners as Ralf Schumacher slid out at turn one, hitting the Honda of Rubens Barrichello - which in turn took out David Coulthard's Red Bull.

Davidson and 19-year-old Vettel managed to avoid the melee and went over the grass - but they lost places.

Spyker's Adrian Sutil was one of the drivers to benefit most, jumping from the back row of the grid to 13th place.

While Schumacher was quick to get out of his Toyota, Barrichello and Coulthard made it round to the pits but both were forced to retire soon after.

Having held off Alonso off the grid, Hamilton was starting to pull clear of his team-mate and rival.

By lap 10 he had built a 2.2-second lead over the Spaniard, with Massa third, Heidfeld fourth, Kovalainen fifth and Raikkonen sixth.

Takuma Sato was under investigation by the stewards for overtaking under the yellow flags on lap one - but that was rendered irrelevant as far as the race was concerned when the Super Aguri driver spun out on lap 14.

While Hamilton looked to have won his battle with Alonso, gradually building a 2.2-second lead with 10 laps to go, the two Ferraris were involved in a tense battle for third. Sportal

Formula One classification

In Italian: Hamilton trionfa a Indy, Alonso 2°, poi le Ferrari

Nel GP degli Usa vince ancora l'inglese della McLaren dopo un bel duello con lo spagnolo: il giovane inglese allunga nel Mondiale. Le rosse al terzo e quarto posto con Massa e Raikkonen.

Strepitoso Lewis Hamilton. Ormai non ci sono più dubbi, il giovanotto della McLaren è in piena corsa per diventare uno dei più grandi di sempre della F.1. Oggi a Indianapolis ha dato un’altra risposta agli scettici trionfando davanti al compagno di squadra Fernando Alonso. Una risposta importante soprattutto per come ha vinto: da duro. Dopo Montreal c’era chi lo voleva vedere in gara sotto pressione. Eccoli serviti: oggi lo ha provato sulla sua pelle proprio lo spagnolo che ha fatto di tutto per stargli davanti. Ma si è sempre trovato gli scarichi del compagno sul muso: porta sbattuta in faccia e secondo posto obbligato in vista di tempi migliori. Ammesso che arrivino.