### Check for existing issues

- [x] I have searched the existing issues and checked that my issue is not a duplicate.

### What happened?

When using LiteLLM with the Triton provider to proxy requests to a Triton server (vLLM backend), every request shows an extra ~5.0s delay to TTFT compared to calling Triton directly.

**What I see:** - Request via LiteLLM → Triton: TTFT 5.10s - Same request directly to Triton: TTFT 0.10s - The ~5s delay occurs for every model served by Triton when proxied through LiteLLM. - Using LiteLLM → vLLM (with openai provider) shows no meaningful extra delay versus direct requests.

**Environment** - LiteLLM version: v1.83.7-stable - Triton with vLLM backend - Both LiteLLM and Triton running in same Kubernetes namespace - Fully air-gapped (no Internet access)

**Debugging done** - Checked LiteLLM logs: no obvious errors or warnings pointing to the delay. - Observed a repeated internal API call that includes header Authorization: Bearer <invalid JWT>; unclear whether this call is related. - Timing is consistently ~5.0s, suggesting a timeout or retry behavior.

**Impact**

This consistent 5s TTFT addition prevents using LiteLLM + Triton in production.

**R…