diff --git a/pkg/commands/executor.go b/pkg/commands/executor.go
index 9581acab..0becc990 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/executor.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/executor.go
@@ -218,11 +218,15 @@ func (e *Executor) acquireFileLock() bool {
 	lockFile := filepath.Join(os.TempDir(), "golangci-lint.lock")
 	e.debugf("Locking on file %s...", lockFile)
 	f := flock.New(lockFile)
-	const totalTimeout = 5 * time.Second
 	const retryDelay = time.Second
-	ctx, finish := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), totalTimeout)
-	defer finish()
 
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	if !e.cfg.Run.AllowSerialRunners {
+		const totalTimeout = 5 * time.Second
+		var cancel context.CancelFunc
+		ctx, cancel = context.WithTimeout(ctx, totalTimeout)
+		defer cancel()
+	}
 	if ok, _ := f.TryLockContext(ctx, retryDelay); !ok {
 		return false
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/commands/run.go b/pkg/commands/run.go
index 3cd4381c..57cb5471 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/run.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/run.go
@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ func initFlagSet(fs *pflag.FlagSet, cfg *config.Config, m *lintersdb.Manager, is
 	const allowParallelDesc = "Allow multiple parallel golangci-lint instances running. " +
 		"If false (default) - golangci-lint acquires file lock on start."
 	fs.BoolVar(&rc.AllowParallelRunners, "allow-parallel-runners", false, wh(allowParallelDesc))
+	const allowSerialDesc = "Allow multiple golangci-lint instances running, but serialize them	around a lock. " +
+		"If false (default) - golangci-lint exits with an error if it fails to acquire file lock on start."
+	fs.BoolVar(&rc.AllowSerialRunners, "allow-serial-runners", false, wh(allowSerialDesc))
 
 	// Linters settings config
 	lsc := &cfg.LintersSettings
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index bf7641f2..9689ea09 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ type Run struct {
 	UseDefaultSkipDirs bool     `mapstructure:"skip-dirs-use-default"`
 
 	AllowParallelRunners bool `mapstructure:"allow-parallel-runners"`
+	AllowSerialRunners   bool `mapstructure:"allow-serial-runners"`
 }
 
 type LintersSettings struct {