diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index f36f34371ef5..c175d8e40d2e 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -17,4 +17,6 @@ grpc_extra_deps()
 
 load("@bazel_skylib//lib:versions.bzl", "versions")
 
-versions.check(minimum_bazel_version = "3.4.0")
+# When the bazel version is updated, make sure to update it
+# in setup.py as well.
+versions.check(minimum_bazel_version = "4.2.1")
diff --git a/python/setup.py b/python/setup.py
index a26a7a97bc18..499a040f6bc2 100644
--- a/python/setup.py
+++ b/python/setup.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 import zipfile
 
 from itertools import chain
-from itertools import takewhile
 from enum import Enum
 
 import urllib.error
@@ -23,6 +22,8 @@
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 SUPPORTED_PYTHONS = [(3, 6), (3, 7), (3, 8), (3, 9)]
+# When the bazel version is updated, make sure to update it
+# in WORKSPACE file as well.
 SUPPORTED_BAZEL = (4, 2, 1)
 
 ROOT_DIR = os.path.dirname(__file__)
@@ -485,17 +486,6 @@ def build(build_python, build_java, build_cpp):
             ] + pip_packages,
             env=dict(os.environ, CC="gcc"))
 
-    version_info = bazel_invoke(subprocess.check_output, ["--version"])
-    bazel_version_str = version_info.rstrip().decode("utf-8").split(" ", 1)[1]
-    bazel_version_split = bazel_version_str.split(".")
-    bazel_version_digits = [
-        "".join(takewhile(str.isdigit, s)) for s in bazel_version_split
-    ]
-    bazel_version = tuple(map(int, bazel_version_digits))
-    if bazel_version < SUPPORTED_BAZEL:
-        logger.warning("Expected Bazel version {} but found {}".format(
-            ".".join(map(str, SUPPORTED_BAZEL)), bazel_version_str))
-
     bazel_flags = ["--verbose_failures"]
     if BAZEL_LIMIT_CPUS:
         n = int(BAZEL_LIMIT_CPUS)  # the value must be an int