Robert Shwartzman m🔴oved towards the brink of clinching the FIA Formula 3 title after scoring his first pole position in over four months during qualifying at the Sochi Autodrom on Friday.

Prema Racing's Shwartzman entered the final round of the season with a 33-point lead o💛ver teammate Jehan Daruvala in championship standings, but added to his advantage by scoring the four bonus points for taking pole in Sochi.

Shwartzman and Daruvala exchanged fastest laps throughout the🥂 session, with the Russian eventually prevailing after a final lap time of 1m52.583s to score pole b✃y almost two-tenths of a second.

It means Shwartzman sits 37 points clear with just 44 available, requiring victory from Daruvala if t🅠he title race is to stay alive until Sunday.

The result marked Shwartzman's first pole positio✨n since the opening 🤡round of the year in Barcelona, which also stood as his most recent front-row qualifying result.

Shwartzman's fellow Ferrari junior, Marcus Armstrong, qualified third after being hindered by traffic on his final run in qualifying, with Niko Kari and Ch♈ristian Lundgaard tak🔜ing fourth and fifth place respectively.

Jake Hughes qualified sixth for HWA Racelab ahead of Trident's P🦂edro Piquet, with Hitech drivers Leonardo Pulcini and Juri Vips following in eighth and ninth. Max Fewtrell completed the top 10 for 🌊ART Grand Prix.

David Schumacher made his FIA F3 qualifying debut on Friday, finishing 25t✃h overall, whi✃le only 29 drivers took part in the session after David Beckmann withdrew from the weekend due to a family emergency.

The opening race of the F3 weekend begins at 10✃15 local time on Sunday (0815 BST).