Lewis Hamilton claimed his second victory in a row as McLaren scored a third straight one-two finish of the season 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 ten point lead in the drivers' championship over McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso, who was second.

"What a dream," Hamilton said. "To come to two circuits (Montreal and Indianapolis) that I didn't know and to really come out with such pace and to see the team moving forward is great.

"The first couple of laps were close and then I managed to pull a slight gap. In the middle sting my tyres just started to drain and Fernando was right up my tail. It was very tough, he fought very well but at the end I managed to pull a gap which I was able to maintain and control the race."

Alonso admitted the race was decided as soon as he failed to overtake Hamilton into the first corner. He also got alongside Hamilton during the middle of the race but could not force his way past, later swerving towards the pit wall to show his team his displeasure at not being allowed past.

"I think the start was the key point of the race, after that who was second would be second in the race," Alonso said. "I think my start was good but we both braked in more or less the same place, but the start is always risky and I didn't want to crash.

"Eight points are better than nothing, we increased the gap on Ferrari which is one of the main things at this is point in the championship."

The Spaniard added: "I tried in the middle stint and we were side by side once on the main straight but it was not enough to overtake him."

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 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.