If I was in the merc aero team and red bull made it work, it would resign out of shame

Wasn't Mercedes consistently saying their performance issues weren't due to the sidepods? The primary issue was the floor and having to run a higher ride height.

Assuming that was true, then it makes sense RB would want to go after the benefits of the zero pods if they can maintain floor and suspension performance.

It's not zeropods.

If it still has sizable pods on the side... then it's sidepods. Slightly shrinking the air intakes and making them vertical is not the same as Merc's zeropod design.