diff --git a/node/Dockerfile b/node/Dockerfile
index 084d8f2d..73eee66c 100644
--- a/node/Dockerfile
+++ b/node/Dockerfile
@@ -6,19 +6,6 @@ ARG TARGETARCH
 RUN apt-get update -yq && \
     apt-get install -yq --no-install-recommends wget apparmor apparmor-utils jq openssh-server sudo
 
-# Gardener's cloud-config-downloader still needs the docker CLI to be present in the image for preloading the hyperkube image,
-# see https://github.com/gardener/gardener/issues/4673
-# Install nerdctl as a (mostly) docker-compatible replacement and fool the cloud-config-downloader with a small wrapper
-# this is quite hacky but relieves us from installing docker here
-ARG NERDCTL_VERSION=1.6.0
-RUN curl -Lo /tmp/nerdctl.tar.gz https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl/releases/download/v$NERDCTL_VERSION/nerdctl-$NERDCTL_VERSION-$TARGETOS-$TARGETARCH.tar.gz && \
-    tar Cxzvvf /usr/local/bin /tmp/nerdctl.tar.gz && \
-    rm -f /tmp/nerdctl.tar.gz
-
-# add our small nerdctl wrapper and disguise it as docker
-COPY docker /usr/bin/docker
-RUN chmod +x /usr/bin/docker
-
 # remove kind's kubelet unit
 RUN rm -f /etc/systemd/system/kubelet.service && \
     rm -rf /etc/systemd/system/kubelet.service.d/
diff --git a/node/docker b/node/docker
deleted file mode 100755
index ed819417..00000000
--- a/node/docker
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o nounset
-set -o pipefail
-
-case "${1:-}" in
-  run)
-    # by default, nerdctl run (like docker run) uses the bridge network. However, the respective CNI plugin is not
-    # installed so we need to add --net=none to run the hyperkube image during node bootstrap
-    exec nerdctl run --net=none "${@:2}"
-    ;;
-  cp)
-    # cp command is a docker-only feature and nerdctl doesn't have an equivalent command
-    # mimic cp by copying from rootfs dir (really hacky)
-    container_id="${2%:*}"
-    copy_src="${2#*:}"
-    rootfs_path="/run/containerd/io.containerd.runtime.v2.task/default/$container_id/rootfs"
-    copy_dest="${3}"
-    cp "$rootfs_path$copy_src" "$copy_dest"
-    ;;
-  *)
-    # delegate all other commands to nerdctl
-    exec nerdctl "$@"
-    ;;
-esac