diff --git a/roles/kubernetes/node/templates/kubelet.j2 b/roles/kubernetes/node/templates/kubelet.j2
index d2959b8a6..8c0ea94b5 100644
--- a/roles/kubernetes/node/templates/kubelet.j2
+++ b/roles/kubernetes/node/templates/kubelet.j2
@@ -14,7 +14,11 @@ KUBELET_HOSTNAME="--hostname-override={{ ansible_hostname }}"
 --kube-reserved cpu={{ kubelet_cpu_limit }},memory={{ kubelet_memory_limit|regex_replace('Mi', 'M') }} \
 --node-status-update-frequency={{ kubelet_status_update_frequency }} \
 {% if kube_version | version_compare('v1.6', '>=') %}
---enable-cri={{ kubelet_enable_cri }} --cgroups-per-qos={{ kubelet_cgroups_per_qos }} \
+{# flag got removed with 1.7.0 #}
+{% if kube_version | version_compare('v1.7', '<') %}
+--enable-cri={{ kubelet_enable_cri }} \
+{% endif %}
+--cgroups-per-qos={{ kubelet_cgroups_per_qos }} \
 --enforce-node-allocatable='{{ kubelet_enforce_node_allocatable }}' {% endif %}{% endset %}
 
 {# DNS settings for kubelet #}