This is how the F12 dev tools look like most of the time:
However, if I drag the window a little more, to get more space to read the HTML, then it counter-intuitively SHRINKS the space down, and slaps all this CSS nonsense that I don't care about in.
I'd be happy to completely disable it, but I assume that's not possible.
Instead - does anyone know how I can force it to remain where it belongs - at the bottom of the sidebar?
Unfortunately, there is currently (as of Firefox 132.0) no option to control the alignment of the side panels. And the threshold is actually hardcoded.
Therefore, I've now filed a feature request to provide some control over the layout of the Inspector side panels.