diff --git a/playwright.config.ts b/playwright.config.ts
index e682d8fe7c..afcfd58535 100644
--- a/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/playwright.config.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export default {
   timeout: 2 * 60 * 1000, // 2 minutes, surely overkill
   fullyParallel: true,
   use: {
-    trace: 'retain-on-failure',
+    trace: 'on-first-retry',
     baseURL: 'http://localhost:4009',
   },
   projects: [
diff --git a/test/e2e/ip-pools.e2e.ts b/test/e2e/ip-pools.e2e.ts
index 52bd0cee7d..0db8569f88 100644
--- a/test/e2e/ip-pools.e2e.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/ip-pools.e2e.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ test('IP pool silo list', async ({ page }) => {
   await expect(page).toHaveTitle('ip-pool-1 / IP pools / Oxide Console')
 
   await page.getByRole('tab', { name: 'Linked silos' }).click()
+  // this is here because waiting for the `tab` query param to show up avoids
+  // flake after the goBack bit below
+  await expect(page).toHaveURL('/system/networking/ip-pools/ip-pool-1?tab=silos')
 
   const table = page.getByRole('table')
   await expectRowVisible(table, { Silo: 'maze-war', 'Pool is silo default?': 'default' })
@@ -49,9 +52,6 @@ test('IP pool silo list', async ({ page }) => {
   const siloLink = page.getByRole('link', { name: 'maze-war' })
   await siloLink.click()
   await expect(page).toHaveURL('/system/silos/maze-war?tab=ip-pools')
-  // these asserts are mostly here to kill some time before goBack
-  await expectRowVisible(table, { name: 'ip-pool-1', Default: 'default' })
-  await expectRowVisible(table, { name: 'ip-pool-2' })
   await page.goBack()
 
   // unlink silo and the row is gone