diff --git a/test/functional/test_framework/test_framework.py b/test/functional/test_framework/test_framework.py
index 0bd17b707e2f..eea41dc43923 100755
--- a/test/functional/test_framework/test_framework.py
+++ b/test/functional/test_framework/test_framework.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-# Copyright (c) 2014-2020 The Bitcoin Core developers
+# Copyright (c) 2014-present The Bitcoin Core developers
 # Copyright (c) 2014-2025 The Dash Core developers
 # Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
 # file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
@@ -718,11 +718,6 @@ def connect_nodes(self, a, b, *, peer_advertises_v2=None):
         def find_conn(node, peer_subversion, inbound):
             return next(filter(lambda peer: peer['subver'] == peer_subversion and peer['inbound'] == inbound, node.getpeerinfo()), None)
 
-        # poll until version handshake complete to avoid race conditions
-        # with transaction relaying
-        # See comments in net_processing:
-        # * Must have a version message before anything else
-        # * Must have a verack message before anything else
         self.wait_until(lambda: find_conn(from_connection, to_connection_subver, inbound=False) is not None)
         self.wait_until(lambda: find_conn(to_connection, from_connection_subver, inbound=True) is not None)
 
@@ -730,11 +725,12 @@ def check_bytesrecv(peer, msg_type, min_bytes_recv):
             assert peer is not None, "Error: peer disconnected"
             return peer['bytesrecv_per_msg'].pop(msg_type, 0) >= min_bytes_recv
 
-        self.wait_until(lambda: check_bytesrecv(find_conn(from_connection, to_connection_subver, inbound=False), 'verack', 21))
-        self.wait_until(lambda: check_bytesrecv(find_conn(to_connection, from_connection_subver, inbound=True), 'verack', 21))
-
-        # The message bytes are counted before processing the message, so make
-        # sure it was fully processed by waiting for a ping.
+        # Poll until version handshake (fSuccessfullyConnected) is complete to
+        # avoid race conditions, because some message types are blocked from
+        # being sent or received before fSuccessfullyConnected.
+        #
+        # As the flag fSuccessfullyConnected is not exposed, check it by
+        # waiting for a pong, which can only happen after the flag was set.
         self.wait_until(lambda: check_bytesrecv(find_conn(from_connection, to_connection_subver, inbound=False), 'pong', 29))
         self.wait_until(lambda: check_bytesrecv(find_conn(to_connection, from_connection_subver, inbound=True), 'pong', 29))