diff -u b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/TestBase.php b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/TestBase.php
--- b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/TestBase.php
+++ b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/TestBase.php
@@ -477,24 +477,19 @@
    *   methods during debugging.
    */
   public function run(array $methods = array()) {
-    $simpletest_config = config('simpletest.settings');
-
     // Initialize verbose debugging.
     $class = get_class($this);
     simpletest_verbose(NULL, variable_get('file_public_path', conf_path() . '/files'), str_replace('\\', '_', $class));
 
     // HTTP auth settings (<username>:<password>) for the simpletest browser
     // when sending requests to the test site.
-    $this->httpauth_method = (int) $simpletest_config->get('httpauth.method');
-    $username = $simpletest_config->get('httpauth.username');
-    $password = $simpletest_config->get('httpauth.password');
-    if (!empty($username) && !empty($password)) {
+    $this->httpauth_method = variable_get('simpletest_httpauth_method', CURLAUTH_BASIC);
+    $username = variable_get('simpletest_httpauth_username', NULL);
+    $password = variable_get('simpletest_httpauth_password', NULL);
+    if ($username && $password) {
       $this->httpauth_credentials = $username . ':' . $password;
     }
 
-    // Maximum redirects setting for the simpletest browser.
-    $this->maximumRedirects = $simpletest_config->get('maximum_redirects');
-
     set_error_handler(array($this, 'errorHandler'));
     // Iterate through all the methods in this class, unless a specific list of
     // methods to run was passed.
@@ -522,8 +517,10 @@
    *   methods during debugging.
    */
   public function run(array $methods = array()) {
+    $simpletest_config = config('simpletest.settings');
+
     $class = get_class($this);
-    if (variable_get('simpletest_verbose', TRUE)) {
+    if ($simpletest_config->get('verbose')) {
       // Initialize verbose debugging.
       $this->verbose = TRUE;
       $this->verboseDirectory = variable_get('file_public_path', conf_path() . '/files') . '/simpletest/verbose';
@@ -534,13 +531,16 @@
     }
     // HTTP auth settings (<username>:<password>) for the simpletest browser
     // when sending requests to the test site.
-    $this->httpauth_method = variable_get('simpletest_httpauth_method', CURLAUTH_BASIC);
-    $username = variable_get('simpletest_httpauth_username', NULL);
-    $password = variable_get('simpletest_httpauth_password', NULL);
-    if ($username && $password) {
+    $this->httpauth_method = (int) $simpletest_config->get('httpauth.method');
+    $username = $simpletest_config->get('httpauth.username');
+    $password = $simpletest_config->get('httpauth.password');
+    if (!empty($username) && !empty($password)) {
       $this->httpauth_credentials = $username . ':' . $password;
     }
 
+    // Maximum redirects setting for the simpletest browser.
+    $this->maximumRedirects = $simpletest_config->get('maximum_redirects');
+
     set_error_handler(array($this, 'errorHandler'));
     // Iterate through all the methods in this class, unless a specific list of
     // methods to run was passed.
diff -u b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/WebTestBase.php b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/WebTestBase.php
--- b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/WebTestBase.php
+++ b/core/modules/simpletest/lib/Drupal/simpletest/WebTestBase.php
@@ -910,14 +910,14 @@
     // to prevent fragments being sent to the web server as part
     // of the request.
     // TODO: Remove this for Drupal 8, since fixed in curl 7.20.0.
-    if (in_array($status, array(300, 301, 302, 303, 305, 307)) && $this->redirect_count < $this->maximumRedirects) {
+    if (in_array($status, array(300, 301, 302, 303, 305, 307)) && $this->redirect_count < variable_get('simpletest_maximum_redirects', 5)) {
       if ($this->drupalGetHeader('location')) {
         $this->redirect_count++;
         $curl_options = array();
     // to prevent fragments being sent to the web server as part
     // of the request.
     // TODO: Remove this for Drupal 8, since fixed in curl 7.20.0.
-    if (in_array($status, array(300, 301, 302, 303, 305, 307)) && $this->redirect_count < variable_get('simpletest_maximum_redirects', 5)) {
+    if (in_array($status, array(300, 301, 302, 303, 305, 307)) && $this->redirect_count < $this->maximumRedirects) {
       if ($this->drupalGetHeader('location')) {
         $this->redirect_count++;
         $curl_options = array();
diff -u b/core/modules/simpletest/simpletest.module b/core/modules/simpletest/simpletest.module
--- b/core/modules/simpletest/simpletest.module
+++ b/core/modules/simpletest/simpletest.module
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@
   if ($original_file_directory) {
     $file_directory = $original_file_directory;
     $class = $test_class;
-    $verbose = config('simpletest.settings')->get('verbose');
+    $verbose = variable_get('simpletest_verbose', TRUE);
     $directory = $file_directory . '/simpletest/verbose';
     $writable = file_prepare_directory($directory, FILE_CREATE_DIRECTORY);
     if ($writable && !file_exists($directory . '/.htaccess')) {