diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
index d2eb6cc60a5..e8415fa66fd 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
@@ -69,7 +69,11 @@ class ClusterConfiguration {
      */
     @Input
     Closure<Integer> minimumMasterNodes = {
-        return getNumNodes() > 1 ? getNumNodes() : -1
+        if (bwcVersion != null && bwcVersion.before("6.5.0-SNAPSHOT")) {
+            return numNodes > 1 ? numNodes : -1
+        } else {
+            return numNodes > 1 ? numNodes.intdiv(2) + 1 : -1
+        }
     }
 
     @Input
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
index e08fd3f6b75..e175d568041 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
@@ -343,6 +343,13 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
             // this will also allow new and old nodes in the BWC case to become the master
             esConfig['discovery.initial_state_timeout'] = '0s'
         }
+        if (esConfig.containsKey('discovery.zen.master_election.wait_for_joins_timeout') == false) {
+            // If a node decides to become master based on partial information from the pinging, don't let it hang for 30 seconds to correct
+            // its mistake. Instead, only wait 5s to do another round of pinging.
+            // This is necessary since we use 30s as the default timeout in REST requests waiting for cluster formation
+            // so we need to bail quicker than the default 30s for the cluster to form in time.
+            esConfig['discovery.zen.master_election.wait_for_joins_timeout'] = '5s'
+        }
         esConfig['node.max_local_storage_nodes'] = node.config.numNodes
         esConfig['http.port'] = node.config.httpPort
         esConfig['transport.tcp.port'] =  node.config.transportPort