diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/common/timeoutSettings.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/common/timeoutSettings.ts
index 7708219444..7b923136de 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/common/timeoutSettings.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/common/timeoutSettings.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import { debugMode } from '../utils';
 
 export const DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 30000;
+export const DEFAULT_LAUNCH_TIMEOUT = 3 * 60 * 1000; // 3 minutes
 
 export class TimeoutSettings {
   private _parent: TimeoutSettings | undefined;
@@ -69,4 +70,12 @@ export class TimeoutSettings {
       return 0;
     return DEFAULT_TIMEOUT;
   }
+
+  static launchTimeout(options: { timeout?: number }): number {
+    if (typeof options.timeout === 'number')
+      return options.timeout;
+    if (debugMode())
+      return 0;
+    return DEFAULT_LAUNCH_TIMEOUT;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/browserType.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/browserType.ts
index 8ca25fbf74..9ace20e4b0 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/browserType.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/browserType.ts
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ export abstract class BrowserType extends SdkObject {
       if (seleniumHubUrl)
         return this._launchWithSeleniumHub(progress, seleniumHubUrl, options);
       return this._innerLaunchWithRetries(progress, options, undefined, helper.debugProtocolLogger(protocolLogger)).catch(e => { throw this._rewriteStartupError(e); });
-    }, TimeoutSettings.timeout(options));
+    }, TimeoutSettings.launchTimeout(options));
     return browser;
   }
 
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ export abstract class BrowserType extends SdkObject {
     controller.setLogName('browser');
     const browser = await controller.run(progress => {
       return this._innerLaunchWithRetries(progress, options, persistent, helper.debugProtocolLogger(), userDataDir).catch(e => { throw this._rewriteStartupError(e); });
-    }, TimeoutSettings.timeout(options));
+    }, TimeoutSettings.launchTimeout(options));
     return browser._defaultContext!;
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/index.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/index.ts
index 84d081fb11..57ab3ee64b 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/index.ts
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ export const test = _baseTest.extend<TestFixtures, WorkerFixtures>({
     const browser = await playwright[browserName].launch();
     await use(browser);
     await browser.close();
-  }, { scope: 'worker' } ],
+  }, { scope: 'worker', timeout: 0 } ],
 
   acceptDownloads: [ true, { option: true } ],
   bypassCSP: [ undefined, { option: true } ],