The motorsport connection is central to the Richard Mille brand identity. Richard Mille himself serves as chairman of the Endurance Commission of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a role that underlines the brand's institutional commitment to top-level racing. The company's use of advanced materials — including grade 5 titanium, Carbon TPT, and graphene — in its timepieces has been developed in close collaboration with motorsport technology suppliers, notably North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT), a producer of lightweight pre-impregnated composites used in Formula One.
Richard Mille's F1 involvement has evolved significantly over two decades. The brand built an early long-standing partnership with Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, with whom it developed a series of watches bearing his name. The association between the two proved dramatically symbolic: during Massa's accident in the qualifying stages of the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, the Richard Mille watch he was wearing remained undamaged despite the severity of the incident.
The brand subsequently expanded its F1 presence, forming partnerships with several teams and drivers. In 2016, Richard Mille and the McLaren Group signed a 10-year partnership agreement covering both the Formula One team and McLaren's automotive division, running until 2025. The collaboration produced the RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronograph, a limited edition of 500 timepieces jointly designed with McLaren design director Rob Melville. Additional F1 partnerships included arrangements with Alfa Romeo Racing and Haas F1 Team. In 2021, Richard Mille replaced Hublot as an official partner of Scuderia Ferrari.
The brand also became an official partner of the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in 2017 and of the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet in 2018, where Richard Mille teams designed a bespoke race display board called the "Tour Chrono."
Richard Mille extended its motorsport footprint to Formula E, forging partnerships with several teams in the all-electric single-seater series. The brand aligned with Nissan E-dams and Venturi Formula E among its Formula E team partnerships. The Venturi relationship was announced in late 2018 as a three-year deal, with Venturi being managed by Gildo Pastor and fielding Felipe Massa — the brand's long-standing ambassador — alongside Edoardo Mortara.
Endurance racing has been a pillar of Richard Mille's motorsport strategy from the earliest years. The brand became a partner of the Le Mans Classic in 2002 and has maintained an active presence in historic and classic motorsport events. In 2014, Richard Mille and Patrick Peter contributed to the creation of the Chantilly Arts and Elegance Richard Mille, an automotive elegance competition for classic cars. The brand's sponsorship calendar also includes the Spa Classic in Belgium, the Suzuka Sound of Engine event, the Nürburgring Classic, the Rallye des Princesses, and the Rallye des Légendes Richard Mille.
In 2019, Tolman Motorsport fielded a pair of McLaren 570S GT4 cars with Richard Mille sponsorship in GT4 competition.
The technical parallels between Richard Mille watchmaking and motorsport engineering are a deliberate feature of the brand's positioning. The RM 27-03 Tourbillon, developed with Rafael Nadal, can withstand impacts of 10,000 g owing to its skeletonised unibody baseplate in Carbon TPT — a material derived from aerospace and motorsport composite manufacturing. The RM 50-03 McLaren F1, exhibited at the 2017 Salon international de la haute horlogerie, was the world's lightest flyback chronograph at 38 grams including strap, achieved using materials and manufacturing principles shared with Formula One car construction.