diff --git a/common/vrnetlab.py b/common/vrnetlab.py
index f6767004..87977a4c 100644
--- a/common/vrnetlab.py
+++ b/common/vrnetlab.py
@@ -90,7 +90,9 @@ def __init__(
         self.nic_type = "e1000"
         self.num_nics = 0
         # number of nics that are actually *provisioned* (as in nics that will be added to container)
-        self.num_provisioned_nics = int(os.environ.get("CLAB_INTFS", 0))
+        # since hellt/vrnetlab 0.15.0 the CLAB_INTFS_WITH_MGMT env var is used (instead of CLAB_INTFS)
+        # that counts management interface as well as data plane interfaces defined in the topology
+        self.num_provisioned_nics = int(os.environ.get("CLAB_INTFS_WITH_MGMT", 0))
         # "highest" provisioned nic num -- used for making sure we can allocate nics without needing
         # to have them allocated sequential from eth1
         self.highest_provisioned_nic_num = 0
@@ -425,7 +427,7 @@ def gen_mgmt(self):
 
     def nic_provision_delay(self) -> None:
         self.logger.debug(
-            f"number of provisioned data plane interfaces is {self.num_provisioned_nics}"
+            f"number of provisioned data and control plane interfaces is {self.num_provisioned_nics}"
         )
 
         if self.num_provisioned_nics == 0:
@@ -442,8 +444,10 @@ def nic_provision_delay(self) -> None:
         inf_path = Path("/sys/class/net/")
         while True:
             provisioned_nics = list(inf_path.glob("eth*"))
-            # if we see num provisioned +1 (for mgmt) we have all nics ready to roll!
-            if len(provisioned_nics) >= self.num_provisioned_nics + 1:
+            # if we see num provisioned interfaces we have all nics ready to roll!
+            # the management interface is counted as well and is included in CLAB_INTFS env var
+            # since containerlab v0.51.0
+            if len(provisioned_nics) >= self.num_provisioned_nics:
                 nics = [
                     int(re.search(pattern=r"\d+", string=nic.name).group())
                     for nic in provisioned_nics
@@ -456,9 +460,11 @@ def nic_provision_delay(self) -> None:
                     self.highest_provisioned_nic_num = max(nics)
 
                 self.logger.debug(
-                    f"highest allocated interface id determined to be: {self.highest_provisioned_nic_num}..."
+                    f"highest allocated interface id determined to be: {self.highest_provisioned_nic_num}"
+                )
+                self.logger.debug(
+                    "control and datap plane interfaces detected, continuing..."
                 )
-                self.logger.debug("interfaces provisioned, continuing...")
                 return
             time.sleep(5)