diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9d2bc50bd15c..1d011d789cad 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1058,9 +1058,7 @@ release-binary: $(RELEASE_DIR)
 
 .PHONY: release-staging
 release-staging: ## Build and push container images to the staging bucket
-	REGISTRY=$(STAGING_REGISTRY) $(MAKE) docker-build-all
-	REGISTRY=$(STAGING_REGISTRY) $(MAKE) docker-push-all
-	REGISTRY=$(STAGING_REGISTRY) $(MAKE) release-alias-tag
+	REGISTRY=$(STAGING_REGISTRY) $(MAKE) docker-build-all docker-push-all release-alias-tag
 
 .PHONY: release-staging-nightly
 release-staging-nightly: ## Tag and push container images to the staging bucket. Example image tag: cluster-api-controller:nightly_main_20210121
diff --git a/cloudbuild.yaml b/cloudbuild.yaml
index 7168bfed9d4e..66e3418801f4 100644
--- a/cloudbuild.yaml
+++ b/cloudbuild.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 timeout: 2700s
 options:
   substitution_option: ALLOW_LOOSE
-  machineType: 'E2_HIGHCPU_32'
+  machineType: 'E2_HIGHCPU_8'
 steps:
   - name: 'gcr.io/k8s-staging-test-infra/gcb-docker-gcloud:v20230522-312425ae46'
     entrypoint: make
@@ -12,9 +12,10 @@ steps:
     - TAG=$_GIT_TAG
     - PULL_BASE_REF=$_PULL_BASE_REF
     - DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
-    args: ['release-staging', '-j', '32', '-O']
+    args:
+    - release-staging
 substitutions:
   # _GIT_TAG will be filled with a git-based tag for the image, of the form vYYYYMMDD-hash, and
   # can be used as a substitution
   _GIT_TAG: '12345'
-  _PULL_BASE_REF: 'dev'
\ No newline at end of file
+  _PULL_BASE_REF: 'dev'