diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/devlink.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/devlink.c
index 0e07971e024a2..bfaec67abf0db 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/devlink.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/devlink.c
@@ -162,9 +162,8 @@ static int mlx5_devlink_reload_down(struct devlink *devlink, bool netns_change,
 		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
 	}
 
-	if (pci_num_vf(pdev)) {
+	if (mlx5_core_is_pf(dev) && pci_num_vf(pdev))
 		NL_SET_ERR_MSG_MOD(extack, "reload while VFs are present is unfavorable");
-	}
 
 	switch (action) {
 	case DEVLINK_RELOAD_ACTION_DRIVER_REINIT: