diff --git a/vllm/v1/engine/utils.py b/vllm/v1/engine/utils.py
index ac3acafbe01d0..8dc9ed2257afb 100644
--- a/vllm/v1/engine/utils.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/engine/utils.py
@@ -611,8 +611,8 @@ def launch_core_engines(
     else:
         # Just handshake with local engines.
         engines_to_handshake = [
-            CoreEngine(index=i, local=True) for i in
-            range(dp_rank, dp_rank + local_engine_count)
+            CoreEngine(index=i, local=True)
+            for i in range(dp_rank, dp_rank + local_engine_count)
         ]
 
     # Whether the started engines will handshake only with co-located
@@ -624,8 +624,7 @@ def launch_core_engines(
     handshake_address = get_engine_client_zmq_addr(
         handshake_local_only, host, parallel_config.data_parallel_rpc_port)
 
-    # if external_dp_lb and dp_rank > 0:
-    if dp_rank > 0:
+    if external_dp_lb and dp_rank > 0:
         assert not handshake_local_only
         local_handshake_address = get_open_zmq_ipc_path()
         client_handshake_address = local_handshake_address
@@ -640,8 +639,6 @@ def launch_core_engines(
 
         # Start local engines.
         if local_engine_count:
-            # In server mode, start_index is the dp_rank and
-            # local_start_index is 0.
             local_engine_manager = CoreEngineProcManager(
                 EngineCoreProc.run_engine_core,
                 vllm_config=vllm_config,
@@ -652,6 +649,7 @@ def launch_core_engines(
                 local_client=True,
                 local_engine_count=local_engine_count,
                 start_index=dp_rank,
+                # In server, this is 0.
                 local_start_index=local_start_index or 0)
         else:
             local_engine_manager = None