diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0029dc36be..c2bdbf17b0 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -134,6 +134,10 @@ GINKGO ?= ./test/tools/build/ginkgo
 # ginkgo json output is only useful in CI, not on developer runs
 GINKGO_JSON ?= $(if $(CI),--json-report ginkgo-e2e.json,)
 
+# Allow control over some Ginkgo parameters
+GINKGO_FLAKE_ATTEMPTS ?= 3
+GINKGO_NO_COLOR ?= y
+
 # Conditional required to produce empty-output if binary not built yet.
 RELEASE_VERSION = $(shell if test -x test/version/version; then test/version/version; fi)
 RELEASE_NUMBER = $(shell echo "$(call err_if_empty,RELEASE_VERSION)" | sed -e 's/^v\(.*\)/\1/')
@@ -596,7 +600,8 @@ test: localunit localintegration remoteintegration localsystem remotesystem  ##
 .PHONY: ginkgo-run
 ginkgo-run: .install.ginkgo
 	$(GINKGO) version
-	$(GINKGO) -vv $(TESTFLAGS) --tags "$(TAGS) remote" $(GINKGOTIMEOUT) --flake-attempts 3 --trace --no-color \
+	$(GINKGO) -vv $(TESTFLAGS) --tags "$(TAGS) remote" $(GINKGOTIMEOUT) --flake-attempts $(GINKGO_FLAKE_ATTEMPTS) \
+		--trace $(if $(findstring y,$(GINKGO_NO_COLOR)),--no-color,) \
 		$(GINKGO_JSON) $(if $(findstring y,$(GINKGO_PARALLEL)),-p,) $(if $(FOCUS),--focus "$(FOCUS)",) \
 		$(if $(FOCUS_FILE),--focus-file "$(FOCUS_FILE)",) $(GINKGOWHAT) $(HACK)
 
diff --git a/test/README.md b/test/README.md
index c8bc192ccd..0fa1ed902f 100644
--- a/test/README.md
+++ b/test/README.md
@@ -126,6 +126,13 @@ Alternatively you can use the `FOCUS` option which maps to `--focus`, again see
 make localintegration FOCUS="podman inspect bogus pod"
 ```
 
+### Controlling Ginkgo parameters
+You can control some of the parameters passed to Ginkgo
+
+- Disable parallel tests by setting `GINKGO_PARALLEL=n`
+- Set flake retry count (default 3) to one by setting `GINKGO_FLAKE_ATTEMPTS=1`
+- Produce colorful tests report by setting `GINKGO_NO_COLOR=n`
+
 # System tests
 System tests are used for testing the *podman* CLI in the context of a complete system. It
 requires that *podman*, all dependencies, and configurations are in place.  The intention of