diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/crosvm-runner.sh b/.gitlab-ci/crosvm-runner.sh
index f88bab08303..0edc72226a4 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/crosvm-runner.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/crosvm-runner.sh
@@ -54,13 +54,10 @@ VM_SOCKET=crosvm-${THREAD}.sock
 # was terminated due to timeouts.  This "vm stop" may fail if the crosvm died
 # without cleaning itself up.
 if [ -e $VM_SOCKET ]; then
-   crosvm stop $VM_SOCKET || rm -rf $VM_SOCKET
-   # Wait for Crosvm to have removed the socket
-   until [ ! -f $VM_SOCKET ]; do
-      sleep 1
-   done
+   crosvm stop $VM_SOCKET || true
    # Wait for socats from that invocation to drain
-   sleep 4
+   sleep 5
+   rm -rf $VM_SOCKET || true
 fi
 
 set_vsock_context || { echo "Could not generate crosvm vsock CID" >&2; exit 1; }