diff --git a/test/functional/p2p_sendheaders.py b/test/functional/p2p_sendheaders.py
--- a/test/functional/p2p_sendheaders.py
+++ b/test/functional/p2p_sendheaders.py
@@ -255,10 +255,6 @@
         # will occur outside of direct fetching
         test_node = self.nodes[0].add_p2p_connection(BaseNode(), services=0)
 
-        # Ensure verack's have been processed by our peer
-        inv_node.sync_with_ping()
-        test_node.sync_with_ping()
-
         self.test_null_locators(test_node, inv_node)
         self.test_nonnull_locators(test_node, inv_node)