A Malta carrier force would leave Type 82 close to Bristol

How different would Type 82 be if Britain operated four Malta-class carriers or two CVA-01s?

Not very different from HMS Bristol, although escorts for the Malta-class force might have been slightly larger.

Type 82 escorts would remain broadly similar to HMS Bristol even if Britain had completed a different large-carrier force. The ships might become slightly larger in a Malta-class scenario, but their basic concept would stay intact. The carrier program and the escort's core fleet-air-defense requirements are related without being identical. Changing the carrier hull does not automatically require reinventing every ship around it.