diff --git a/cibuildwheel/util.py b/cibuildwheel/util.py
index 1fef5d9f6..36932e59b 100644
--- a/cibuildwheel/util.py
+++ b/cibuildwheel/util.py
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@ def _parse_constraints_for_virtualenv(
     {macos|windows}.setup_python function.
     """
     assert len(dependency_constraint_flags) in {0, 2}
-    packages = ["pip", "setuptools", "wheel"]
+    packages = ["pip"]
     constraints_dict = {package: "embed" for package in packages}
     if len(dependency_constraint_flags) == 2:
         assert dependency_constraint_flags[0] == "-c"
@@ -612,6 +612,8 @@ def virtualenv(
         virtualenv_app,
         "--activators=",
         "--no-periodic-update",
+        "--no-setuptools",
+        "--no-wheel",
         *additional_flags,
         "--python",
         python,