PARIS, March 10, 2008 (AFP) - He escaped death on Formula One's blackest weekend, has been publically humiliated by one of the sport's giants and is seeing out his racing dotage at the back of the grid.

It's not funny but Brazil's Rubens Barrichello will be smiling when he starts what will be a record 257th race later this season.

It's a landmark that seemed a long way away in April 1994 when he crashed in Friday qualifying at the San Marino Grand Prix, the race which was to claim the life of his hero Ayrton Senna.

"I had been diagnosed with a head trauma, right arm fracture, severe contusions on my spinal cord and on the right side of the thorax, a fractured nose and face, as well as mouth swelling," said Barrichello after flipping his Jordan car at 220km/h and smashing into a tyre wall.

"But I can clearly recall who was at my bedside as soon as I came back to my senses - Ayrton Senna."

Two days later, Senna was dead, crashing at the same Imola track.

"Senna was the greatest loss of my life. He was my guide, my joy in racing," recalls Barrichello.

Triple world champion Senna was mentor to Barrichello whose racing career endured an inauspicious, cash-strapped beginning.

Lack of money meant the teenager left Brazil on his own to race in European junior championships.

Times were so tough that his cramped bedroom was shared with a dog inside a team garage.

The 35-year-old, who made his F1 debut at the 1993 South African Grand Prix, has fulfilled many of the dreams which accompanied him on his lonely flight from South America, but one has remained steadfastly out of reach.

He will never be a world champion.

His best chance came during his rollercoaster six years with Ferrari where Michael Schumacher called the shots and Barrichello was the German's reluctant wingman.

He achieved all of his nine career wins with the Italian giants but his role as a bit-part player was there for millions to see at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix where, having been in sight of victory, he was ordered to pull over inches before the chequered flag to allow the German through.

"Many people thought I was insane signing a contract with Schumacher's team," said Barrichello.

"But I was getting fed up with driving cars that did not allow me to match up to the victorious Rubens from previous categories. I yearned for the feeling of being a winner again. Signing up with Ferrari meant rebuilding my self-confidence in my own potential."

Barrichello enjoyed his best seasons with Ferrari finishing second in the 2002 and 2004 world championships and after a horrid 2007 season with Honda, he might have wished he had stayed put.

Last year, he finished 20th in the championship, his worst career placing, failing to score a point. Even the lumbering Spyker of Adrian Sutil finished ahead of him.

Honda scored just six points all year courtesy of teammate Jenson Button.

But in 2008 an ever-optimistic Barrichello will have former Ferrari technical guru Ross Brawn as team principal at his side as he sets his new record of race appearances currently held by Italian Riccardo Patrese.

"With good racers coming and going from Formula One, I have always stayed for a long time and I will be honoured to break the record," said Barrichello.

"I'm very experienced but I feel very young."

He also insists he will keep racing beyond this year.

"I'm still in love with the car - I still have this burning feeling in my stomach before I drive a new car," he said.

"So while I have that, I have no reason to stop. I think I have at least a couple of years in me."