diff --git a/controllers/state_manager.go b/controllers/state_manager.go
index 45b890df2..d4359361f 100644
--- a/controllers/state_manager.go
+++ b/controllers/state_manager.go
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ const (
 	gpuWorkloadConfigContainer         = "container"
 	gpuWorkloadConfigVMPassthrough     = "vm-passthrough"
 	gpuWorkloadConfigVMVgpu            = "vm-vgpu"
+	driverDeployLabelKey               = "nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.driver"
 	kubevirtDevicePluginDeployLabelKey = "nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.sandbox-device-plugin"
 	kataDevicePluginDeployLabelKey     = "nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.kata-sandbox-device-plugin"
 	podSecurityLabelPrefix             = "pod-security.kubernetes.io/"
@@ -395,10 +396,15 @@ func removeAllGPUStateLabels(labels map[string]string) bool {
 // updateGPUStateLabels returns true if the input labels map is modified.
 func (w *gpuWorkloadConfiguration) updateGPUStateLabels(labels map[string]string) bool {
 	if hasOperandsDisabled(labels) {
-		// Operands are disabled, delete all GPU state labels
+		// Operands are disabled: remove all GPU state labels except the driver label.
 		w.log.Info("Operands are disabled for node", "NodeName", w.node, "Label", commonOperandsLabelKey, "Value", "false")
-		w.log.Info("Disabling all operands for node", "NodeName", w.node)
-		return removeAllGPUStateLabels(labels)
+		w.log.Info("Disabling all operands for node (except the GPU driver)", "NodeName", w.node)
+		driverLabelValue, hasDriverLabel := labels[driverDeployLabelKey]
+		modified := removeAllGPUStateLabels(labels)
+		if hasDriverLabel {
+			labels[driverDeployLabelKey] = driverLabelValue
+		}
+		return modified
 	}
 	removed := w.removeGPUStateLabels(labels)
 	added := w.addGPUStateLabels(labels)
diff --git a/controllers/state_manager_test.go b/controllers/state_manager_test.go
index 6585de196..0858ed142 100644
--- a/controllers/state_manager_test.go
+++ b/controllers/state_manager_test.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
@@ -207,6 +208,50 @@ func TestHasOperandsDisabled(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestUpdateGPUStateLabels_OperandsDisabled(t *testing.T) {
+	log := logr.Discard()
+	w := &gpuWorkloadConfiguration{config: gpuWorkloadConfigContainer, node: "test-node", log: log}
+
+	t.Run("preserves driver label when operands disabled", func(t *testing.T) {
+		labels := map[string]string{
+			commonOperandsLabelKey:                        "false",
+			driverDeployLabelKey:                          "true",
+			"nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.container-toolkit":     "true",
+			"nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.device-plugin":         "true",
+			"nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.gpu-feature-discovery": "true",
+		}
+		modified := w.updateGPUStateLabels(labels)
+		require.True(t, modified)
+		require.Equal(t, "true", labels[driverDeployLabelKey], "driver label must be preserved when operands disabled")
+		require.NotContains(t, labels, "nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.container-toolkit")
+		require.NotContains(t, labels, "nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.device-plugin")
+		require.NotContains(t, labels, "nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.gpu-feature-discovery")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("driver label not added if absent when operands disabled", func(t *testing.T) {
+		labels := map[string]string{
+			commonOperandsLabelKey:                    "false",
+			"nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.container-toolkit": "true",
+		}
+		modified := w.updateGPUStateLabels(labels)
+		require.True(t, modified)
+		require.NotContains(t, labels, driverDeployLabelKey, "driver label must not be added if it was not present")
+		require.NotContains(t, labels, "nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.container-toolkit")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("preserves driver label set to false when operands disabled", func(t *testing.T) {
+		labels := map[string]string{
+			commonOperandsLabelKey:                    "false",
+			driverDeployLabelKey:                      "false",
+			"nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.container-toolkit": "true",
+		}
+		modified := w.updateGPUStateLabels(labels)
+		require.True(t, modified)
+		require.Equal(t, "false", labels[driverDeployLabelKey], "explicitly-disabled driver label must be preserved")
+		require.NotContains(t, labels, "nvidia.com/gpu.deploy.container-toolkit")
+	})
+}
+
 func TestHasNFDLabels(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		labels map[string]string
diff --git a/tests/scripts/verify-disable-operands.sh b/tests/scripts/verify-disable-operands.sh
index 66c5bb85c..c0aad843c 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/verify-disable-operands.sh
+++ b/tests/scripts/verify-disable-operands.sh
@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@ source ${SCRIPT_DIR}/.definitions.sh
 # Import the check definitions
 source ${SCRIPT_DIR}/checks.sh
 
-# We verify that all GPU Operator operands have been deleted
-check_pod_deleted "nvidia-driver-daemonset"
+# We verify that all GPU Operator operands have been deleted, except the driver.
 check_pod_deleted "nvidia-container-toolkit-daemonset"
 check_pod_deleted "nvidia-device-plugin-daemonset"
 check_pod_deleted "nvidia-dcgm-exporter"