diff --git a/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/ClientRequestObservationContext.java b/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/ClientRequestObservationContext.java
index 4d0f2fdc3908..46ce43fc3eb0 100644
--- a/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/ClientRequestObservationContext.java
+++ b/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/ClientRequestObservationContext.java
@@ -50,10 +50,25 @@ public class ClientRequestObservationContext extends RequestReplySenderContext<C
 	private ClientRequest request;
 
 
+	/**
+	 * Create a new Observation context for HTTP client observations.
+	 * @deprecated as of 6.1, in favor of {@link #ClientRequestObservationContext(ClientRequest.Builder)}
+	 */
+	@Deprecated(since = "6.1", forRemoval = true)
 	public ClientRequestObservationContext() {
 		super(ClientRequestObservationContext::setRequestHeader);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Create a new Observation context for HTTP client observations.
+	 */
+	public ClientRequestObservationContext(ClientRequest.Builder request) {
+		super(ClientRequestObservationContext::setRequestHeader);
+		setCarrier(request);
+		setRequest(request.build());
+	}
+
+
 	private static void setRequestHeader(@Nullable ClientRequest.Builder request, String name, String value) {
 		if (request != null) {
 			request.headers(headers -> headers.set(name, value));
diff --git a/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClient.java b/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClient.java
index 5786a21b55ef..ccb57b713c00 100644
--- a/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClient.java
+++ b/spring-webflux/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultWebClient.java
@@ -438,12 +438,11 @@ public <V> Flux<V> exchangeToFlux(Function<ClientResponse, ? extends Flux<V>> re
 		@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
 		@Override
 		public Mono<ClientResponse> exchange() {
-			ClientRequestObservationContext observationContext = new ClientRequestObservationContext();
 			ClientRequest.Builder requestBuilder = initRequestBuilder();
+			ClientRequestObservationContext observationContext = new ClientRequestObservationContext(requestBuilder);
 			return Mono.deferContextual(contextView -> {
 				Observation observation = ClientHttpObservationDocumentation.HTTP_REACTIVE_CLIENT_EXCHANGES.observation(observationConvention,
 						DEFAULT_OBSERVATION_CONVENTION, () -> observationContext, observationRegistry);
-				observationContext.setCarrier(requestBuilder);
 				observation
 						.parentObservation(contextView.getOrDefault(ObservationThreadLocalAccessor.KEY, null))
 						.start();
@@ -452,7 +451,7 @@ public Mono<ClientResponse> exchange() {
 					filterFunction = filterFunctions.andThen(filterFunction);
 				}
 				ClientRequest request = requestBuilder
-						.attribute(ClientRequestObservationContext.CURRENT_OBSERVATION_CONTEXT_ATTRIBUTE, observation.getContext())
+						.attribute(ClientRequestObservationContext.CURRENT_OBSERVATION_CONTEXT_ATTRIBUTE, observationContext)
 						.build();
 				observationContext.setUriTemplate((String) request.attribute(URI_TEMPLATE_ATTRIBUTE).orElse(null));
 				observationContext.setRequest(request);
diff --git a/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultClientRequestObservationConventionTests.java b/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultClientRequestObservationConventionTests.java
index 74bbb755e23a..d1becc26e517 100644
--- a/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultClientRequestObservationConventionTests.java
+++ b/spring-webflux/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/reactive/function/client/DefaultClientRequestObservationConventionTests.java
@@ -43,19 +43,19 @@ void shouldHaveName() {
 
 	@Test
 	void shouldHaveContextualName() {
-		ClientRequestObservationContext context = new ClientRequestObservationContext();
-		context.setCarrier(ClientRequest.create(HttpMethod.GET, URI.create("/test")));
-		context.setRequest(context.getCarrier().build());
+		ClientRequestObservationContext context = new ClientRequestObservationContext(ClientRequest.create(HttpMethod.GET, URI.create("/test")));
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getContextualName(context)).isEqualTo("http get");
 	}
 
 	@Test
 	void shouldOnlySupportWebClientObservationContext() {
-		assertThat(this.observationConvention.supportsContext(new ClientRequestObservationContext())).isTrue();
+		ClientRequest.Builder request = ClientRequest.create(HttpMethod.GET, URI.create("/test"));
+		assertThat(this.observationConvention.supportsContext(new ClientRequestObservationContext(request))).isTrue();
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.supportsContext(new Observation.Context())).isFalse();
 	}
 
 	@Test
+	@SuppressWarnings("removal")
 	void shouldAddKeyValuesForNullExchange() {
 		ClientRequestObservationContext context = new ClientRequestObservationContext();
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getLowCardinalityKeyValues(context)).hasSize(6)
@@ -68,13 +68,14 @@ void shouldAddKeyValuesForNullExchange() {
 
 	@Test
 	void shouldAddKeyValuesForExchangeWithException() {
-		ClientRequestObservationContext context = new ClientRequestObservationContext();
+		ClientRequest.Builder request = ClientRequest.create(HttpMethod.GET, URI.create("/test"));
+		ClientRequestObservationContext context = new ClientRequestObservationContext(request);
 		context.setError(new IllegalStateException("Could not create client request"));
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getLowCardinalityKeyValues(context)).hasSize(6)
-				.contains(KeyValue.of("method", "none"), KeyValue.of("uri", "none"), KeyValue.of("status", "CLIENT_ERROR"),
+				.contains(KeyValue.of("method", "GET"), KeyValue.of("uri", "none"), KeyValue.of("status", "CLIENT_ERROR"),
 						KeyValue.of("client.name", "none"), KeyValue.of("exception", "IllegalStateException"), KeyValue.of("outcome", "UNKNOWN"));
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getHighCardinalityKeyValues(context)).hasSize(1)
-				.contains(KeyValue.of("http.url", "none"));
+				.contains(KeyValue.of("http.url", "/test"));
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -83,7 +84,6 @@ void shouldAddKeyValuesForRequestWithUriTemplate() {
 				.attribute(WebClient.class.getName() + ".uriTemplate", "/resource/{id}");
 		ClientRequestObservationContext context = createContext(request);
 		context.setUriTemplate("/resource/{id}");
-		context.setRequest(context.getCarrier().build());
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getLowCardinalityKeyValues(context))
 				.contains(KeyValue.of("exception", "none"), KeyValue.of("method", "GET"), KeyValue.of("uri", "/resource/{id}"),
 						KeyValue.of("status", "200"), KeyValue.of("client.name", "none"), KeyValue.of("outcome", "SUCCESS"));
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@ void shouldAddKeyValuesForRequestWithUriTemplate() {
 	@Test
 	void shouldAddKeyValuesForRequestWithoutUriTemplate() {
 		ClientRequestObservationContext context = createContext(ClientRequest.create(HttpMethod.GET, URI.create("/resource/42")));
-		context.setRequest(context.getCarrier().build());
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getLowCardinalityKeyValues(context))
 				.contains(KeyValue.of("method", "GET"), KeyValue.of("uri", "none"));
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getHighCardinalityKeyValues(context)).hasSize(1).contains(KeyValue.of("http.url", "/resource/42"));
@@ -103,14 +102,12 @@ void shouldAddKeyValuesForRequestWithoutUriTemplate() {
 	@Test
 	void shouldAddClientNameKeyValueForRequestWithHost() {
 		ClientRequestObservationContext context = createContext(ClientRequest.create(HttpMethod.GET, URI.create("https://localhost:8080/resource/42")));
-		context.setRequest(context.getCarrier().build());
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getLowCardinalityKeyValues(context)).contains(KeyValue.of("client.name", "localhost"));
 	}
 
 	@Test
 	void shouldAddRootUriEvenIfTemplateMissing() {
 		ClientRequestObservationContext context = createContext(ClientRequest.create(HttpMethod.GET, URI.create("https://example.org/")));
-		context.setRequest(context.getCarrier().build());
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getLowCardinalityKeyValues(context)).contains(KeyValue.of("uri", "/"));
 	}
 
@@ -118,13 +115,11 @@ void shouldAddRootUriEvenIfTemplateMissing() {
 	void shouldOnlyConsiderPathForUriKeyValue() {
 		ClientRequestObservationContext context = createContext(ClientRequest.create(HttpMethod.GET, URI.create("https://example.org/resource/42")));
 		context.setUriTemplate("https://example.org/resource/{id}");
-		context.setRequest(context.getCarrier().build());
 		assertThat(this.observationConvention.getLowCardinalityKeyValues(context)).contains(KeyValue.of("uri", "/resource/{id}"));
 	}
 
 	private ClientRequestObservationContext createContext(ClientRequest.Builder request) {
-		ClientRequestObservationContext context = new ClientRequestObservationContext();
-		context.setCarrier(request);
+		ClientRequestObservationContext context = new ClientRequestObservationContext(request);
 		context.setResponse(ClientResponse.create(HttpStatus.OK).build());
 		return context;
 	}