Finn wins his second in a row

Kimi Raikkonen drove to his second consecutive victory and rookie Lewis Hamilton gained his ninth podium finish in a row.

Raikkonen’s win in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England, was his third of the season. He won the opener in Australia, then struggled before becoming the only driver to win three times this year.

He’s still third in the standings to Hamilton. Racing in his home country, Hamilton came in third, finishing in the top three -- just as he has in every Formula One race in which he has been.

Hamilton joined Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso as the only drivers with nine straight podium finishes. Schumacher had 19 for Ferrari in 2001-02, and Alonso had 15 for Renault in 2005-06.

On Sunday, Raikkonen finished 2.4 seconds ahead of Alonso, putting him third in the standings behind the two McLaren drivers with eight races remaining. Hamilton has 70 points, Alonso 58 and Raikkonen 52.

“It is important we gained some points on the other guys,” Raikkonen said. “It is still a long season, but right now it is looking good for me.”

The Finn turned 59 laps around the 3.2-mile circuit in 1 hour 21 minutes 43.074 seconds for his 12th Formula One victory.

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Will Power splashed past rookie Ryan Dalziel with 23 minutes to go and went on to an easy victory in a wet, messy Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto.

The Australian driver, last year’s top Champ Car World Series rookie, won for the second time in his career. He moved solidly into championship contention with three-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais and rookie Robert Doornbos.

Bourdais wound up ninth and Doornbos, who killed his engine at the start and began the race last, finished sixth, taking the series lead heading to Edmonton, Canada, in two weeks. The Dutch driver has 164 points to 162 for Power and 161 for Bourdais, the Frenchman who went into the race with a two-point lead on Doornbos.

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Scott Dixon held off Sam Hornish Jr., series leader Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti over the final 14 laps and won the Watkins Glen Grand Prix, pulling away at the end by 6.2 seconds for his third straight victory at the 3.4-mile, 11-turn natural road course in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

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John Force earned his 123rd funny car victory in the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway. Brandon Bernstein won in top fuel, and Jeg Coughlin Jr. won in pro stock.

Force’s win was his first of the season.