diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 27d8a4a17..2275a0208 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -192,16 +192,11 @@ namespace {
     /** Blocks that are in flight, and that are in the queue to be downloaded. Protected by cs_main. */
     struct QueuedBlock {
         uint256 hash;
-        CBlockIndex *pindex;  //! Optional.
-        int64_t nTime;  //! Time of "getdata" request in microseconds.
-        bool fValidatedHeaders;  //! Whether this block has validated headers at the time of request.
-        int64_t nTimeDisconnect; //! The timeout for this block request (for disconnecting a slow peer)
+        CBlockIndex* pindex;     //!< Optional.
+        bool fValidatedHeaders;  //!< Whether this block has validated headers at the time of request.
     };
     map<uint256, pair<NodeId, list<QueuedBlock>::iterator> > mapBlocksInFlight;
 
-    /** Number of blocks in flight with validated headers. */
-    int nQueuedValidatedHeaders = 0;
-
     /** Number of preferable block download peers. */
     int nPreferredDownload = 0;
 
@@ -210,6 +205,9 @@ namespace {
 
     /** Dirty block file entries. */
     set<int> setDirtyFileInfo;
+
+    /** Number of peers from which we're downloading blocks. */
+    int nPeersWithValidatedDownloads = 0;
 } // anon namespace
 
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -257,6 +255,8 @@ struct CNodeState {
     //! Since when we're stalling block download progress (in microseconds), or 0.
     int64_t nStallingSince;
     list<QueuedBlock> vBlocksInFlight;
+    //! When the first entry in vBlocksInFlight started downloading. Don't care when vBlocksInFlight is empty.
+    int64_t nDownloadingSince;
     int nBlocksInFlight;
     int nBlocksInFlightValidHeaders;
     //! Whether we consider this a preferred download peer.
@@ -274,6 +274,7 @@ struct CNodeState {
         pindexBestHeaderSent = NULL;
         fSyncStarted = false;
         nStallingSince = 0;
+        nDownloadingSince = 0;
         nBlocksInFlight = 0;
         nBlocksInFlightValidHeaders = 0;
         fPreferredDownload = false;
@@ -308,12 +309,6 @@ void UpdatePreferredDownload(CNode* node, CNodeState* state)
     nPreferredDownload += state->fPreferredDownload;
 }
 
-// Returns time at which to timeout block request (nTime in microseconds)
-int64_t GetBlockTimeout(int64_t nTime, int nValidatedQueuedBefore, const Consensus::Params &consensusParams)
-{
-    return nTime + 500000 * consensusParams.nPowTargetSpacing * (4 + nValidatedQueuedBefore);
-}
-
 void InitializeNode(NodeId nodeid, const CNode *pnode) {
     LOCK(cs_main);
     CNodeState &state = mapNodeState.insert(std::make_pair(nodeid, CNodeState())).first->second;
@@ -333,13 +328,21 @@ void FinalizeNode(NodeId nodeid) {
     }
 
     BOOST_FOREACH(const QueuedBlock& entry, state->vBlocksInFlight) {
-        nQueuedValidatedHeaders -= entry.fValidatedHeaders;
         mapBlocksInFlight.erase(entry.hash);
     }
     EraseOrphansFor(nodeid);
     nPreferredDownload -= state->fPreferredDownload;
+    nPeersWithValidatedDownloads -= (state->nBlocksInFlightValidHeaders != 0);
+    assert(nPeersWithValidatedDownloads >= 0);
 
     mapNodeState.erase(nodeid);
+
+    if (mapNodeState.empty()) {
+        // Do a consistency check after the last peer is removed.
+        assert(mapBlocksInFlight.empty());
+        assert(nPreferredDownload == 0);
+        assert(nPeersWithValidatedDownloads == 0);
+    }
 }
 
 // Requires cs_main.
@@ -348,8 +351,15 @@ bool MarkBlockAsReceived(const uint256& hash) {
     map<uint256, pair<NodeId, list<QueuedBlock>::iterator> >::iterator itInFlight = mapBlocksInFlight.find(hash);
     if (itInFlight != mapBlocksInFlight.end()) {
         CNodeState *state = State(itInFlight->second.first);
-        nQueuedValidatedHeaders -= itInFlight->second.second->fValidatedHeaders;
         state->nBlocksInFlightValidHeaders -= itInFlight->second.second->fValidatedHeaders;
+        if (state->nBlocksInFlightValidHeaders == 0 && itInFlight->second.second->fValidatedHeaders) {
+            // Last validated block on the queue was received.
+            nPeersWithValidatedDownloads--;
+        }
+        if (state->vBlocksInFlight.begin() == itInFlight->second.second) {
+            // First block on the queue was received, update the start download time for the next one
+            state->nDownloadingSince = std::max(state->nDownloadingSince, GetTimeMicros());
+        }
         state->vBlocksInFlight.erase(itInFlight->second.second);
         state->nBlocksInFlight--;
         state->nStallingSince = 0;
@@ -367,12 +377,17 @@ void MarkBlockAsInFlight(NodeId nodeid, const uint256& hash, const Consensus::Pa
     // Make sure it's not listed somewhere already.
     MarkBlockAsReceived(hash);
 
-    int64_t nNow = GetTimeMicros();
-    QueuedBlock newentry = {hash, pindex, nNow, pindex != NULL, GetBlockTimeout(nNow, nQueuedValidatedHeaders, consensusParams)};
-    nQueuedValidatedHeaders += newentry.fValidatedHeaders;
+    QueuedBlock newentry = {hash, pindex, pindex != NULL};
     list<QueuedBlock>::iterator it = state->vBlocksInFlight.insert(state->vBlocksInFlight.end(), newentry);
     state->nBlocksInFlight++;
     state->nBlocksInFlightValidHeaders += newentry.fValidatedHeaders;
+    if (state->nBlocksInFlight == 1) {
+        // We're starting a block download (batch) from this peer.
+        state->nDownloadingSince = GetTimeMicros();
+    }
+    if (state->nBlocksInFlightValidHeaders == 1 && pindex != NULL) {
+        nPeersWithValidatedDownloads++;
+    }
     mapBlocksInFlight[hash] = std::make_pair(nodeid, it);
 }
 
@@ -3911,7 +3926,6 @@ void UnloadBlockIndex()
     nBlockSequenceId = 1;
     mapBlockSource.clear();
     mapBlocksInFlight.clear();
-    nQueuedValidatedHeaders = 0;
     nPreferredDownload = 0;
     setDirtyBlockIndex.clear();
     setDirtyFileInfo.clear();
@@ -5866,24 +5880,15 @@ bool SendMessages(CNode* pto)
             LogPrintf("Peer=%d is stalling block download, disconnecting\n", pto->id);
             pto->fDisconnect = true;
         }
-        // In case there is a block that has been in flight from this peer for (2 + 0.5 * N) times the block interval
-        // (with N the number of validated blocks that were in flight at the time it was requested), disconnect due to
-        // timeout. We compensate for in-flight blocks to prevent killing off peers due to our own downstream link
+        // In case there is a block that has been in flight from this peer for 2 + 0.5 * N times the block interval
+        // (with N the number of peers from which we're downloading validated blocks), disconnect due to timeout.
+        // We compensate for other peers to prevent killing off peers due to our own downstream link
         // being saturated. We only count validated in-flight blocks so peers can't advertise non-existing block hashes
         // to unreasonably increase our timeout.
-        // We also compare the block download timeout originally calculated against the time at which we'd disconnect
-        // if we assumed the block were being requested now (ignoring blocks we've requested from this peer, since we're
-        // only looking at this peer's oldest request).  This way a large queue in the past doesn't result in a
-        // permanently large window for this block to be delivered (ie if the number of blocks in flight is decreasing
-        // more quickly than once every 5 minutes, then we'll shorten the download window for this block).
         if (!pto->fDisconnect && state.vBlocksInFlight.size() > 0) {
             QueuedBlock &queuedBlock = state.vBlocksInFlight.front();
-            int64_t nTimeoutIfRequestedNow = GetBlockTimeout(nNow, nQueuedValidatedHeaders - state.nBlocksInFlightValidHeaders, consensusParams);
-            if (queuedBlock.nTimeDisconnect > nTimeoutIfRequestedNow) {
-                LogPrint("net", "Reducing block download timeout for peer=%d block=%s, orig=%d new=%d\n", pto->id, queuedBlock.hash.ToString(), queuedBlock.nTimeDisconnect, nTimeoutIfRequestedNow);
-                queuedBlock.nTimeDisconnect = nTimeoutIfRequestedNow;
-            }
-            if (queuedBlock.nTimeDisconnect < nNow) {
+            int nOtherPeersWithValidatedDownloads = nPeersWithValidatedDownloads - (state.nBlocksInFlightValidHeaders > 0);
+            if (nNow > state.nDownloadingSince + consensusParams.nPowTargetSpacing * (BLOCK_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_BASE + BLOCK_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_PER_PEER * nOtherPeersWithValidatedDownloads)) {
                 LogPrintf("Timeout downloading block %s from peer=%d, disconnecting\n", queuedBlock.hash.ToString(), pto->id);
                 pto->fDisconnect = true;
             }
diff --git a/src/main.h b/src/main.h
index 47e18eab4..a89d14cdc 100644
--- a/src/main.h
+++ b/src/main.h
@@ -98,6 +98,10 @@ static const unsigned int AVG_ADDRESS_BROADCAST_INTERVAL = 30;
 /** Average delay between trickled inventory broadcasts in seconds.
  *  Blocks, whitelisted receivers, and a random 25% of transactions bypass this. */
 static const unsigned int AVG_INVENTORY_BROADCAST_INTERVAL = 5;
+/** Block download timeout base, expressed in millionths of the block interval (i.e. 20 min) */
+static const int64_t BLOCK_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_BASE = 2000000;
+/** Additional block download timeout per parallel downloading peer (i.e. 5 min) */
+static const int64_t BLOCK_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_PER_PEER = 500000;
 
 static const unsigned int DEFAULT_LIMITFREERELAY = 15;
 static const bool DEFAULT_RELAYPRIORITY = true;