diff --git a/tools/do_release.sh b/tools/do_release.sh
index 181c813cf65..5b89b0f5819 100755
--- a/tools/do_release.sh
+++ b/tools/do_release.sh
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ function updateVitessExamples () {
 
 # First argument is the Release Version the docker release script should be set to (for instance: v15.0.0)
 function updateDockerReleaseScript () {
-  sed -i.bak -E "s/vt_base_version=.*/vt_base_version='$1'/g" $ROOT/docker/release.sh
+  sed -i.bak -E "s/vt_base_version=.*/vt_base_version='v$1'/g" $ROOT/docker/release.sh
   rm -f $ROOT/docker/release.sh.bak
 }