He twice visited the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello in November 2009 to acquaint himself with the team's engineers and worked with them.
Alonso had meetings with Domenicali and Di Montezemolo and observed wind tunnel testing of its 2010 car.
He later had a seat fitting in the vehicle to make himself comfortable in regards to his overall height and weight on 19 January 2010.
Bookmakers installed Alonso as the favourite to win the drivers' championship and he trained with the cyclist Samuel Sánchez and riders associated with Alberto Contador.
His race engineer was Andrea Stella.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button of McLaren and the Red Bull pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were Alonso's main championship competition.
He won the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix and Ferrari favoured him over Massa after his teammate did not allow him past in Australia.
Alonso fell 47 points behind after the British Grand Prix due to driver errors in China and Monaco and a slow progression of development into the F10 of which he reportedly grew frustrated with.
His second race victory came when Ferrari instructed Massa to let him win in Germany.
Victories in Italy, Singapore and Korea and finishing in the top three each time thereafter allowed Alonso to enter the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix leading by eight points.
He finished second to Vettei with 252 points after a strategy error by Ferrari left him behind and unable to pass Vitaly Petrov's Renault.

Alonso remained at Ferrari for 2011.
He vowed to lose about 2 to 3 kg (4.4 to 6.6 lb) to compensate for the re-introduction of the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) that increased a car's weight and lowered its centre of gravity.
The Ferrari 150º Italia was built conservatively and lacked aerodynamic grip and tyre handling for a qualifying session.
Alonso extracted additional pace from his car to claim ten podium finishes and win the British Grand Prix.
His best qualification of the season was a second at the Canadian Grand Prix and he qualified higher than his teammate Massa fifteen times Alonso was fourth overall with 257 points; strong finishes put him in contention to finish runner-up to eventual champion Vettel before Webber won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
He twice visited the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello in November 2009 to acquaint himself with the team's engineers and worked with them. Alonso had meetings with Domenicali and Di Montezemolo and observed wind tunnel testing of its 2010 car. He later had a seat fitting in the vehicle to make himself comfortable in regards to his overall height and weight on 19 January 2010. Bookmakers installed Alonso as the favourite to win the drivers' championship and he trained with the cyclist Samuel Sánchez and riders associated with Alberto Contador. His race engineer was Andrea Stella.
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button of McLaren and the Red Bull pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were Alonso's main championship competition. He won the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix and Ferrari favoured him over Massa after his teammate did not allow him past in Australia. Alonso fell 47 points behind after the British Grand Prix due to driver errors in China and Monaco and a slow progression of development into the F10 of which he reportedly grew frustrated with. His second race victory came when Ferrari instructed Massa to let him win in Germany. Victories in Italy, Singapore and Korea and finishing in the top three each time thereafter allowed Alonso to enter the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix leading by eight points. He finished second to Vettei with 252 points after a strategy error by Ferrari left him behind and unable to pass Vitaly Petrov's Renault.
Alonso remained at Ferrari for 2011. He vowed to lose about 2 to 3 kg (4.4 to 6.6 lb) to compensate for the re-introduction of the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) that increased a car's weight and lowered its centre of gravity. The Ferrari 150º Italia was built conservatively and lacked aerodynamic grip and tyre handling for a qualifying session. Alonso extracted additional pace from his car to claim ten podium finishes and win the British Grand Prix. His best qualification of the season was a second at the Canadian Grand Prix and he qualified higher than his teammate Massa fifteen times Alonso was fourth overall with 257 points; strong finishes put him in contention to finish runner-up to eventual champion Vettel before Webber won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Motor racing career of Fernando Alonso