diff --git a/cluster/gce/upgrade.sh b/cluster/gce/upgrade.sh
index 3d55f38acf4..e5fd89b25b1 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/upgrade.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/upgrade.sh
@@ -211,6 +211,10 @@ function prepare-node-upgrade() {
   # TODO(zmerlynn): Get configure-vm script from ${version}. (Must plumb this
   #                 through all create-node-instance-template implementations).
   local template_name=$(get-template-name-from-version ${SANITIZED_VERSION})
+  # For master on GCI, we support the hybrid mode with nodes on ContainerVM.
+  if [[  "${OS_DISTRIBUTION}" == "gci" && "${NODE_IMAGE}" == container* ]]; then
+    source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/gce/debian/helper.sh"
+  fi
   create-node-instance-template "${template_name}"
   # The following is echo'd so that callers can get the template name.
   echo $template_name