diff --git a/src/Interpreters/InterpreterSelectQuery.cpp b/src/Interpreters/InterpreterSelectQuery.cpp
index 43c5102fa32..742828827c4 100644
--- a/src/Interpreters/InterpreterSelectQuery.cpp
+++ b/src/Interpreters/InterpreterSelectQuery.cpp
@@ -1550,7 +1550,12 @@ void InterpreterSelectQuery::executeFetchColumns(
         throw Exception("Logical error in InterpreterSelectQuery: nowhere to read", ErrorCodes::LOGICAL_ERROR);
 
     /// Specify the number of threads only if it wasn't specified in storage.
-    if (!query_plan.getMaxThreads())
+    ///
+    /// But in case of remote query and prefer_localhost_replica=1 (default)
+    /// The inner local query (that is done in the same process, without
+    /// network interaction), it will setMaxThreads earlier and distributed
+    /// query will not update it.
+    if (!query_plan.getMaxThreads() || is_remote)
         query_plan.setMaxThreads(max_threads_execute_query);
 
     /// Aliases in table declaration.
diff --git a/tests/queries/0_stateless/01602_max_distributed_connections.reference b/tests/queries/0_stateless/01602_max_distributed_connections.reference
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git a/tests/queries/0_stateless/01602_max_distributed_connections.sh b/tests/queries/0_stateless/01602_max_distributed_connections.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..8c19b6f5bb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/queries/0_stateless/01602_max_distributed_connections.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+CURDIR=$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)
+. "$CURDIR"/../shell_config.sh
+
+common_opts=(
+    "--format=Null"
+
+    "--max_threads=1"
+    "--max_distributed_connections=3"
+)
+
+# NOTE: the test use higher timeout to avoid flakiness.
+timeout 9s ${CLICKHOUSE_CLIENT} "$@" "${common_opts[@]}" -q "select sleep(3) from remote('127.{1,2,3,4,5}', system.one)" --prefer_localhost_replica=0
+timeout 9s ${CLICKHOUSE_CLIENT} "$@" "${common_opts[@]}" -q "select sleep(3) from remote('127.{1,2,3,4,5}', system.one)" --prefer_localhost_replica=1