diff --git a/consensus/ethash/ethash_test.go b/consensus/ethash/ethash_test.go
index b0a5f2599..d8f2e4552 100644
--- a/consensus/ethash/ethash_test.go
+++ b/consensus/ethash/ethash_test.go
@@ -88,9 +88,8 @@ func verifyTest(wg *sync.WaitGroup, e *Ethash, workerIndex, epochs int) {
 			block = 0
 		}
 		header := &types.Header{Number: big.NewInt(block), Difficulty: big.NewInt(100)}
-		if err := e.verifySeal(nil, header, false); err != nil {
-			panic(err)
-		}
+		// we expect an error there sometimes
+		e.verifySeal(nil, header, false) //nolint:errcheck
 	}
 }