diff --git a/tests/functional/test_install.py b/tests/functional/test_install.py
index 96b780f3cc37e23fcf1d5b739918e04114284bea..9481cfd086954f1fcafae8c786056bb60bf3f465 100644
--- a/tests/functional/test_install.py
+++ b/tests/functional/test_install.py
@@ -1306,7 +1306,7 @@ def test_double_install_fail(script):
 def _get_expected_error_text():
     return (
         "Package 'pkga' requires a different Python: {} not in '<1.0'"
-    ).format(sys.version.split()[0])
+    ).format('.'.join(map(str, sys.version_info[:3])))
 
 
 def test_install_incompatible_python_requires(script):