diff --git a/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/http/ClientConfig.java b/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/http/ClientConfig.java
index 7c2af11628460..bfb0a95e3759f 100644
--- a/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/http/ClientConfig.java
+++ b/java/src/org/openqa/selenium/remote/http/ClientConfig.java
@@ -63,13 +63,15 @@ protected ClientConfig(
   public static ClientConfig defaultConfig() {
     return new ClientConfig(
         null,
-        Duration.ofSeconds(10),
-        Duration.ofMinutes(3),
+        Duration.ofSeconds(
+            Long.parseLong(System.getProperty("webdriver.httpclient.connectionTimeout", "10"))),
+        Duration.ofSeconds(
+            Long.parseLong(System.getProperty("webdriver.httpclient.readTimeout", "180"))),
         DEFAULT_FILTER,
         null,
         null,
         null,
-        null);
+        System.getProperty("webdriver.httpclient.version", null));
   }
 
   public ClientConfig baseUri(URI baseUri) {
diff --git a/java/test/org/openqa/selenium/remote/internal/HttpClientTestBase.java b/java/test/org/openqa/selenium/remote/internal/HttpClientTestBase.java
index fa3affc04a7aa..fc32e492db18d 100644
--- a/java/test/org/openqa/selenium/remote/internal/HttpClientTestBase.java
+++ b/java/test/org/openqa/selenium/remote/internal/HttpClientTestBase.java
@@ -203,6 +203,23 @@ void shouldAllowConfigurationOfRequestTimeout() {
                     ClientConfig.defaultConfig().readTimeout(Duration.ofMillis(500))));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void shouldAllowConfigurationFromSystemProperties() {
+    try {
+      System.setProperty("webdriver.httpclient.connectionTimeout", "60");
+      System.setProperty("webdriver.httpclient.readTimeout", "300");
+      System.setProperty("webdriver.httpclient.version", "HTTP_1_1");
+      ClientConfig clientConfig = ClientConfig.defaultConfig();
+      assertThat(clientConfig.connectionTimeout()).isEqualTo(Duration.ofSeconds(60));
+      assertThat(clientConfig.readTimeout()).isEqualTo(Duration.ofSeconds(300));
+      assertThat(clientConfig.version()).isEqualTo(HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1);
+    } finally {
+      System.clearProperty("webdriver.httpclient.connectionTimeout");
+      System.clearProperty("webdriver.httpclient.readTimeout");
+      System.clearProperty("webdriver.httpclient.version");
+    }
+  }
+
   private HttpResponse getResponseWithHeaders(final Multimap<String, String> headers) {
     return executeWithinServer(
         new HttpRequest(GET, "/foo"),