Simplify the following text for a Grade 8 native English-speaking person.
Original: Their performance thus far had been such that many were saying a race win was likely after firmly establishing themselves as the best team behind championship leaders Ferrari and McLaren . Although the perceived performance gap between the two leaders and BMW Sauber was a fair amount , it was still less than that between BMW Sauber and the teams behind them .
Simplified: The performance of the BMW Sauber 's F1 .08 firmly placed them as the best team behind the two championship leading teams of Ferrari and McLaren .